Dedicated to Prof. Hans-Heinrich Horhold on the occasion of his 60th birthdayThe article describes recent achievements in the field oftelechelic epoxide-amine and epoxide-dithiol prepolymers and of macromonomers which can be obtained by step growth processes of epoxides with amines, carboxylic acids or phenols. The distribution of the oligomers is investigated with the help of HPLC and GPC. Furthermore the reaction of epoxideamine prepolymers with cyclic carboxylic acid anhydrides is described as well as their polymerization to new hybrid networks. The prepolymers with their P-hydroxypropyl structural units are able to form complexes with metal ions. We have used this property for the extraction of Cu" ions from water solutions.Klee