4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether (ODA) is one of the important monomers for polyimide. Domestic production capacity is continuing to increase.

4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether, also known as bis(4-aminophenyl) ether, referred to as ODA, is an organic compound with the chemical formula C12H12N2O. It appears as a colorless crystalline powder, is toxic, and is insoluble in water. , slightly soluble in ethanol, soluble in dilute salt. 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether is an important chemical raw material, dye, and pharmaceutical intermediate. It plays an important role in the production of polymer materials, high-temperature resins, azo dyes, and reactive dyes. Its terminal application fields include medicine, Dyes, chemicals, electricity, electronics, aerospace, etc.

The production method of 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether mainly includes the catalytic reduction method, which refers to using 4,4′-dinitrodiphenyl ether as raw material, performing a catalytic hydrogenation reduction reaction in a catalyst and alcohol solvent, and then crystallizing The method of generating ODA in the treatment, recrystallization and purification steps has the advantages of low cost, low environmental pollution and high yield; the hydrazine hydrate reduction method refers to using 4,4′-dinitrodiphenyl ether as raw material and alcohol as Solvent, hydrazine hydrate is used as the reducing agent, and the method of generating ODA through heating and reflux reduction reaction has the advantages of high yield and good quality, but the cost is high, the toxicity is high, and it is not suitable for industrial production. Therefore, the current mainstream method for producing 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether in industry is catalytic hydrogenation reduction.

According to the “China 4,4-diaminodiphenyl ether industry application market demand and development opportunities research report from 2023 to 2028” released by the Industrial Research Center It shows that at present, the main uses of 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether are: as raw materials used in the production of special engineering plastics such as polyimide (PI), polyetherimide, and polyesterimide. Scenarios, downstream products include films, flame-retardant fibers, coated fabrics, enameled wire paint, etc.; used as cross-linking agents in the production of high-quality materials such as epoxy resin and polyurethane; used as intermediates in the production of azo dyes and reactive dyes , can replace the carcinogenic benzidine.

Among them, the production of polyimide is the main application scenario of 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether. Polyimide is a type of organic polymer material with excellent performance. It is widely used in electronics, automobiles, medical, aviation and other fields. The global polyimide market size will reach US$2.3 billion in 2022. Benefiting from the rapid development of the downstream market, the demand for 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether continues to increase. Its global market size will be approximately US$260 million in 2022, and the industry development prospects are broad.

Industrial analysis personnel said that the current global polyimide production companies mainly include DuPont of the United States, Wakayama of Japan, etc. International companies as well as Nantong Huishun Chemical, Dongying Mingde Chemical, Shandong Guansen Polymer Materials, Shandong Eurasia New Material Technology, Shandong Wanda Chemical, Shandong Energy Group, Shanghai Huayi Energy and Chemical, Jiangsu Hualun Chemical, Jiangsu Qingquan Chemical, Hebei Haili Chinese companies such as Hengyuan New Materials and Zhejiang Jinhui New Materials. After recent years of development, my country’s 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether production capacity has continued to expand and has gradually become one of the world’s major producing countries. The market space is expected to continue to expand in the future.