Patent ID: 8273799

Claim:
A method of conducting an amination reaction by: i) combining a tertiary amine and a vinyl aromatic polymer comprising benzyl chloride groups in a ratio of less than 1.5 mole of tertiary amine per mole of benzyl chloride group of the vinyl aromatic polymer within an alcohol-based solvent to form a reaction mixture, wherein the tertiary amine is represented by the formula: wherein R 1 , R 2 and R 3 are each independently selected from: alkyl and alkoxy groups; with the proviso that the total number of carbon atoms for R 1 , R 2 and R 3 is at least 7; ii) conducting an amination reaction for a reaction time period of at least 2 hours; and iii) maintaining the reaction mixture at a temperature of at least 50° C. and a pH of at least 7 for at least half of the reaction time period by adding a base selected from at least one of: sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, calcium hydroxide, calcium oxide and potassium hydroxide.