Process for preparing an aryl ether

Claim 1

A process for preparing a compound of the formula ##STR16## wherein X 1 , X 2 , X 3 and X 4 are independently selected from the group consisting of fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine; n is an integer of from 1 to about 10; a, b, c, and d are each integers of from about 1 to about 4; Z 1 and Z 2 are independently selected from the group consisting of halogen and alkyl of from about 1 to about 15 carbon atoms; R 1 and R 2 are independently selected from the group consisting of alkylene containing from about 1 to about 12 carbon atoms, alkylene containing from about2 to about 12 carbon atoms, cycloalkylene of the formula ##STR17## wherein R 3 , R 4 and R 5 are independently selected from the group consisting of alkylene of from about 1 to about 5 carbon atoms, and cycloalkylenyl of the formula ##STR18## and A is selected from the group consisting of R 3 CR 4 , ##STR19## and O; comprising the steps of: (a) reacting a halogenated diphenoxy compound of the formula ##STR20## with from about 2 to about 12 moles per mole of said halogenated diphenoxy compound of an alkylene dihalide of the formula X 1 R 1 X 2 at a temperature of from about 50 to about 200 degrees centigrade for from about 30 to about 300 minutes in the presence of an inorganic base, whereby a halogenated aryl ether is produced; and sequentially (b) reacting the halogenated aryl ether produced in step (a) with a halogenated phenol of the formula ##STR21## at a temperature of from about 50 to about 200 degrees centigrade in the presence of an inorganic base for from about 1 to about 10 hours, wherein from about 0.1 to about 2.0 moles of said halogenated phenol per mole of said halogenated diphenoxy compound are charged to the reaction mixture and reacted.