A novel chloromethylation method and homogeneous quaternization/crosslinking strategy for a series of polymers are demonstrated in this paper. The chloromethylation is accomplished by using 1, 4-bis (chloromethoxy) butane (BCMB) as the chloromethylating reagent and concentrated sulfuric acid as the solvent and catalyst. BCMB is a kind of high-efficient, non-carcinogenic and inexpensive chloromethylating reagent, and concentrated sulfuric acid replaces toxic halogenated hydrocarbon. Study results indicated that BCMB had higher reactivity than chloromethyl octyl ether under similar reaction conditions. The chloromethylated poly (phthalazinon ether sulfone ketone) (PPESK) was then crosslinked and quartemized by using N, N, N', N'-tetramethyl-1, 6-hexanediamine (TMHDA) as the homogeneous quatemizing and crosslinking agent during the solvent evaporation. The ion exchange capacity (IEC) of the crosslinked membranes (C-QAPPESK/OH) was very close to the theoretical value, higher than that of the membranes quatemized by trimethylamine (TMA) aqueous solutions (QAPPESK/OH). In addition to higher IEC, C-QAPPESK/OH membranes possessed greater hydroxide conductivity and chemical stability than that of QAPPESK/OH membranes. The results suggest that this efficient chloromethylation together with the homogeneous quatemizing and crosslinking method is a time-saving strategy with potential application in the preparation of anion exchange membranes. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.