High performance thermosets from a curable Diels–Alder polymer possessing benzoxazine groups in the main chain

A high‐molecular‐weight polymer (PBz) possessing reactive benzoxazine groups in the main chain was prepared through the Diels–Alder reaction using bis(3‐furfuryl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐1,3‐benzoxazinyl)isopropane (BPA‐FBz) and bismaleimide (BMI) as monomers. The chemical structure of PBz is characterized with FTIR and ¹H NMR. The polymer PBz was further thermally reacted with a high performance polymer (PBz‐R) through the ring‐opening addition reaction of benzoxazine groups and the addition reaction of maleimide groups. PBz‐R exhibit a high glass transition temperature of 242 °C, good thermal stability, high flame retardancy, high mechanical strength, and great flexibility. Another crosslinked polymer (PBz‐BR) curing from the mixture of BPA‐FBz and BMI was also prepared. The properties of PBz‐BR are also attractive but, however, not as good as what observed with PBz‐R. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 6509–6517, 2008     

Silicon‐containing benzoxazines and their polymers: Copolymerization and copolymer properties

A silicon‐containing benzoxazine BATMS‐Bz (1,3‐bis(3‐aminopropyl)tetramethyldisiloxane‐benzoxazine) was used for polybenzoxazine modification by means of formation of benzoxazine copolymers with 3,4‐dihydro‐3‐phenyl‐2H‐1,3‐benzoxazine (Ph‐Bz) and 3‐furfuryl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐1,3‐benzoxazine (F‐Bz), respectively. Ph‐Bz/BATMS‐Bz copolymers showed a positive deviation due the presence of intermolecular hydrogen bonding. However, this effect was not observed with F‐Bz/BATMS‐Bz copolymers. Meanwhile, BATMS‐Bz incorporation exhibited significant effect on toughening polybenzoxazines. It is therefore demonstrated that BATMS‐Bz is a high performance modifier to simultaneously enhance the T_g and toughness of polybenzoxazines. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 1007–1015, 2007     

Cocuring behaviors of benzoxazine and maleimide derivatives and the thermal properties of the cured products

The cocuring behaviors of 3‐phenyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐1,3‐benzoxazine (P‐ABz) and various N‐phenylmaleimide compounds were studied with DSC, FTIR, and TGA‐GC/MS. The presence of benzoxazine compound promoted the polymerization of maleimide groups. In contrast, 4‐hydroxyphenylmaleimide (MI‐OH) and 4‐maleimidobenzoic acid (MI‐COOH), which possess acidic moieties, showed an acid‐catalytic effect on the polymerization of benzoxazine groups. The cocuring composition of P‐ABz/MI‐COOH showed low polymerization temperatures, high glass transition temperature above 220 °C, and comparable thermal stability to conventional polybenzoxazines. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 1890–1899, 2006     

Synthesis,characterization, and polymerization of brominated benzoxazine monomers and thermal stability/flame retardance of the polymers generated

Novel monofunctional brominated benzoxazine 3‐(2,4,6‐tribromophenyl)‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐1,3‐benzoxazine (P‐bra) and bifunctional brominated benzoxazine 6,6′‐bis(3‐(2,4,6‐tribromophenyl)‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐1,3‐benzoxazinyl) isopropane (B‐bra) were prepared and highly thermally stable polybenzoxazines were obtained by the thermal cure of the corresponding benzoxazines monomers. The chemical structures of these novel monomers were confirmed by FITR, ¹H‐NMR and elemental analysis. FTIR spectra and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) suggested that the polymerization was thermally initiated and occurred via ring‐opening of the monomer in each case. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) indicated that brominatation could have a profound effect on increasing char yield and on thermal degradation temperatures. The results of UL‐94 burn test showed that the polybenzoxazines prepared from P‐bra and B‐bra had good flame retardance. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Crosslinked polyamide based on main‐chain type polybenzoxazines derived from a primary amine‐functionalized benzoxazine monomer

Two types of main‐chain type polybenzoxazines with amide and benzoxazine groups as repeating units in the main chain, termed as poly(amide‐benzoxazine), have been synthesized. They have been prepared by polycondensation reaction of primary amine‐bifunctional benzoxazine with adipoyl and isophthaloyl dichloride using dimethylacetamide as solvent. Additionally, a model reaction is designed from the reaction of 3,3′‐(4,4′‐methylenebis(4,1‐phenylene))bis(3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐benzo[e][1,3]oxazin‐6‐amine) with benzoyl chloride. The structures of model compound and polyamides are confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) spectroscopies. Differential scanning calorimetry and FTIR are also used to study crosslinking behavior of both the model compound and polymers. Thermal properties of the crosslinked polymers are also studied by thermogravimetric analysis. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Development and characterization of fully bio‐based polybenzoxazine‐silica hybrid composites for low‐k and flame‐retardant applications

In the present work, new classes of bio‐based polybenzoxazines were synthesized using eugenol as phenol source and furfurylamine and stearylamine as amine sources separately through solventless green synthetic process routes and were further reinforced with varying percentages (1, 3, 5, and 10 wt%) of silica (from rice husk) to attain hybrid composites. The molecular structure, cure behaviour, thermal stability, dielectric properties, and flame‐retardant behaviour of both benzoxazine monomers and benzoxazine composites were characterized using appropriate modern analytical techniques. The eugenol‐based benzoxazines synthesized using furfurylamine (FBz) and stearylamine (SBz) were cured at 223°C and 233°C, respectively. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) data reveal the glass transition temperatures (T_g) of FBz and SBz were 157°C and 132°C, respectively, and the maximum decomposition temperature (T_max) as obtained from thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), were found to be 464°C and 398°C for FBz and SBz, respectively. The dielectric constants for FBz and SBz obtained at 1 MHz were 3.28 and 3.62, respectively. Furthermore, varying weight percentages (1, 3, 5, and 10 wt%) of 3‐mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (3‐MPTMS) functionalized bio‐silica reinforced the composite materials as evidenced by their improved thermal stability and lower dielectric constant. Data obtained from thermal and dielectric studies suggested that these polybenzoxazines could be used in the form of adhesives, sealants, and composites for high performance inter‐layer low‐k dielectric applications in microelectronics.     

BF3·OEt2 in alcoholic media,an efficient initiator in the cationic polymerization of phenyl‐1,3‐benzoxazines

3‐Phenyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐1,3‐benzoxazine ( m ₁ ) underwent cationic ring opening polymerization using BF₃·OEt₂ in alcoholic solution under mild conditions. The polymerization of m ₁ proceeds through an intermediate hemiaminal ether leading mainly to the formation of polybenzoxazines with diphenylmethane bridges, and not only the classical Mannich‐type ones. During the first stages of the reaction, low‐molecular weight soluble oligomers containing benzoxazine rings are formed. At longer polymerization times, the propagation proceeds conventionally through the phenolic active sites. This polymerization mechanism is extensible to other substituted 3‐phenyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐1,3‐benzoxazines but fails in the case of 3‐alkyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐1,3‐benzoxazines or when the phenyl group in Position 3 have a substituent in the p‐position. Spectroscopic studies and kinetic experiments using model reactions and deuterium labeled benzoxazines, allow proposing a plausible different polymerization mechanism. These soluble benzoxazine‐containing polymers can be conveniently processed and impregnated on appropriate substrates before underwent crosslinking producing materials with comparable properties to those of conventional bis‐benzoxazines. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013 , 51, 5075–5084     

Synthesis and thermal properties of a bio‐based polybenzoxazine with curing promoter

A fully bio‐based benzoxazine, 3‐furfuryl‐8‐methoxy‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐1,3‐benzoxazine (Bzf), has been prepared using guaiacol, furfurylamine, and paraformaldehyde as raw materials. Its chemical structure has been characterized by 1H and 13C NMR, FTIR, and elemental analysis. The polymerization behavior of Bzf in the presence of methyl p‐toluenesulfonate (PTSM) has been studied by FTIR and DSC, and the thermal stability of the cured resin has been evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis. It was found that PTSM is a good promoter that serves to avoid thermal decomposition of the bio‐based monomer during the curing process at high temperature. In contrast to the situation with neat Bzf, the presence of PTSM (5 mol % for Bzf) significantly improves the polymerization behaviors, including a decrease in the polymerization temperature from 240 to 174 °C, a shortening of the time required to reach the gel point on heating at 200 °C from 47 to 20 min, and an increase in the char yield of the cured resin from 53 to 62%. Moreover, these observed experimental results on the promoting effect of PTSM are interpreted in terms of several possible mechanistic schemes, which involve a catalytic effect on the dissociation of C? O bonds in both the coordination ring‐opening reaction and the rearrangement from a phenoxy structure to a phenolic structure. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2013     

Preparation of conductive polybenzoxazines by oxidative polymerization

Soluble and thermally curable conducting high molecular weight polybenzoxazine precursors were prepared by oxidative polymerization 3‐phenyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐benzo[e][1,3] oxazine (P‐a) alone and in the presence of thiophene (Th) with ceric ammonium nitrate in acetonitrile. The structure of the precursors was confirmed by FTIR, ¹H NMR, and DSC measurements, indicating the presence of a cyclic benzoxazine structure, together with small but varying amount of a ring opened phenolic structure. The resulting polymers exhibit conductivities around 10^?2 S cm^?1 and undergo thermal curing at various temperatures. Attempts to copolymerize P‐a with another electroactive monomer, pyrrole (Py), by a similar redox process were unsuccessful, which was attributed to the unfavourable oxidation potential of Py. The cured products exhibited high thermal stability but lower conductivity, than those of the precursors. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 999–1006, 2007     

Renewable benzoxazine monomer from Vanillin: Synthesis,characterization, and studies on curing behavior

A novel renewable based benzoxazine, 3‐(furan‐2‐ylmethyl)?8‐methoxy‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐1,3‐benzoxazine‐6‐formyl (Va‐Bz), has been synthesized from a lignin derived chemical “vanillin” without solvents. Poly (Va‐Bz) has high Tg and excellent thermal and adhesive properties. A mechanism of cross‐linking, due to electrophilic substitution at furan and decarboxylation of carboxylic group of benzene ring, is suggested. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 7–11     

Preparation,characterization, and properties of fluorene‐containing benzoxazine and its corresponding cross‐linked polymer

A benzoxazine compound (FDP‐FBz), which possesses a fluorene group and two terminal furan groups, and its corresponding cross‐linked polymer (CR‐FDP‐FBz) have been prepared using 4,4′‐(9‐fluorenylidene)diphenol (FDP), furfurylamine, and formaldehyde as precursors. The chemical structure of FDP‐FBz has been characterized with Fourier‐transform infrared and ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies. FDP‐FBz displays a melting point at about 173 °C and a processing window of 52 °C as well as good solubility in common organic solvents. As a result, FDP‐FBz can be fabricated in both molten and solution processes. Under an excitation at 365 nm, FDP‐FBz exhibits a photoluminescent (PL) emission at about 445 nm. The PL intensity of FDP‐FBz is as high as sixfolds of the intensity recorded with FDP. CR‐FDP‐FBz displays a glass transition temperature of 215 °C, a high storage modulus of 3.1 GPa, a 10% weight loss at 384 °C, and a high char yield of 56 wt % (900 °C, in nitrogen). Moreover, CR‐FDP‐FBz has a high refractive index of about 1.65 as a result of incorporating fluorene groups to its structure. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 4020–4026, 2010     

Photoinitiated cationic polymerization of monofunctional benzoxazine

The photoinitiated ring‐opening cationic polymerization of a monofunctional benzoxazine, 3‐phenyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐1,3‐benzoxazine, with onium salts such as diphenyliodonium hexafluorophosphate and triphenylsulfonium hexafluorophosphate as initiators was examined. The structures of the polymers thus formed were complex and related to the ring‐opening process of the protonated monomer either at the oxygen or nitrogen atoms. The phenolic mechanism also contributed, but its influence decreased with decreasing monomer concentration. Thermal properties of the polymers were also investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 3320–3328, 2003     

Carboxylic acid‐containing benzoxazines as efficient catalysts in the thermal polymerization of benzoxazines

The autocatalytic thermal polymerization behavior of three benzoxazine monomers containing carboxylic acid functionalities is reported. Several mixtures of these carboxylic monomers and 3‐phenyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐1,3‐benzoxazine were prepared and their thermal polymerization behavior was analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry. The acid character of these reactive monomers increases the concentration of oxonium species, thus catalyzing the benzoxazine ring opening reaction. In this way the polymerization temperature decreased by as much as 100 °C in some cases. The existence of decarboxylation processes at high temperatures has been established by FTIR‐ATR and related to the increase in thermal stability observed by TGA in some cases. A relationship between the presence of carboxylic groups in the resulting materials and their flame retardancy behavior has also been established. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 6091–6101, 2008     

Studies on the thermal polymerization of substituted benzoxazine monomers: Electronic effects

To evaluate the influence of the electronic effects on the polymerization temperature, we looked at several 3‐phenyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2‐H‐1,3‐benzoxazine monomers with electron‐withdrawing or electron‐donating groups in the 6 and 4′ positions. The monomers were synthesized and characterized using different synthetic methods to achieve the best possible results. The thermal polymerization of these benzoxazine monomers was analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry, and the polymerization behavior and the polymer characteristics were related to the electronic character of the substituent and the polymerization mechanism. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 3353–3366, 2008     

The chemical effect of furfuryl amide on the enhanced performance of the diphenolic acid derived bio-polybenzoxazine resin

As a renewable chemical, diphenolic acid (DPA) has attracted immense interest in bio-based polymer science. However, its application for polybenzoxazines is limited due to decarboxylation, that is, the release of CO₂ during the curing reaction of benzoxazine. In this study, the amidation strategy of converting DPA to diphenolic amides (DPAM) was demonstrated to solve this problem while simultaneously improving the thermal properties of polybenzoxazine. DPA was amidated by separately using four amines (hexamine, cyclohexylamine, furfurylamine, and aniline), then reacted with furfurylamine and paraformaldehyde to synthesize their benzoxazine monomers. By using TGA and DMA, all amide-containing polybenzoxazines were found to exhibit excellent thermal stabilities. Among all of the benzoxazine resins, poly(DFA-fa), which was obtained from amidation with furfurylamine, exhibited the highest glass transition temperature (T_g) of 310°C and a decomposition temperature (T_d10) of 406°C. Furthermore, a possible post-curing reaction mechanism was proposed to explain the outstanding thermal performance of poly(DFA-fa) resin. This study proposes an innovative strategy to solve the decarboxylation of DPA-based polymers, which is of significance for high-performance bio-based polymers.     

Dynamic mechanical and thermal characterization of high-performance polybenzoxazines

Two polybenzoxazines are cured in an autoclave from the polyfunctional benzoxazine monomers, 8,8′-bis(3,4-dihydro-3-phenyl-2H-1,3-benzoxazine) and 6,6′-bis(2,3-dihydro-3-phenyl-4H-1,3-benzoxazinyl) ketone. The density and tensile properties of these polybenzoxazines are measured at room temperature. Dynamic mechanical tests are performed to determine the T_g, crosslink density, and the activation enthalpy of the glass-transition process for these two polybenzoxazines. The effect of postcure temperature on the T_g of the polymers is investigated and discussed in terms of crosslink density. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is also applied for the molecular characterization of the curing systems. Thermal properties of these polybenzoxazines are studied in terms of isothermal aging and decomposition temperature via thermogravimetric analysis. These two polybenzoxazines show mechanical and thermal properties similar to or better than bismaleimides and some polyimides. They also show very high char yield after being carbonized in a nitrogen atmosphere. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 37: 3257–3268, 1999     

Synthesis and properties of flame‐retardant benzoxazines by three approaches

We propose three approaches to obtain flame‐retardant benzoxazines. In the first approach, we synthesize a novel benzoxazine (dopot‐m) from a phosphorus‐containing triphenol (dopotriol), formaldehyde, and methyl amine. Dopot‐m is copolymerized with a commercial benzoxazine [6′,6‐bis(3‐phenyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐1,3‐benzoxazineyl)methane (F‐a)] or diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA). The thermal properties and flame retardancy of the F‐a/dopot‐m copolymers increase with the content of dopot‐m. As for the dopot‐m/DGEBA curing system, the glass‐transition temperature of the dopot‐m/DGEBA copolymer is 252 °C, which is higher than that of poly(dopot‐m). The 5% decomposition temperature of the dopot‐m/DGEBA copolymer increases from 323 to 351 °C because of the higher crosslinking density caused by the reaction of phenolic OH and epoxy. In the second approach, we incorporate the element phosphorus into benzoxazine via the curing reaction of dopotriol and F‐a. After the curing, the thermal properties of the F‐a/dopotriol copolymers are almost the same as those of neat poly(F‐a), and this implies that we can incorporate the flame‐retardant element phosphorus into the polybenzoxazine without sacrificing any thermal properties. In the third approach, we react dopo with electron‐deficient benzoxazine to incorporate the element phosphorus. After the curing, the glass‐transition temperatures of polybenzoxazines decrease slightly with the content of dopo, mainly because of the smaller crosslinking density of the resultant polybenzoxazines. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 3454–3468, 2006     

Methylol‐functional benzoxazines as precursors for high‐performance thermoset polymers: Unique simultaneous addition and condensation polymerization behavior

A new class of high‐performance resins of combined molecular structure of both traditional phenolics and benzoxazines has been developed. The monomers termed as methylol‐functional benzoxazines were synthesized through Mannich condensation reaction of methylol‐functional phenols and aromatic amines, including methylenedianiline (4,4′‐diaminodiphenylmethane) and oxydianiline (4,4′‐diaminodiphenyl ether), in the presence of paraformaldehyde. For comparison, other series of benzoxazine monomers were prepared from phenol, corresponding aromatic amines, and paraformaldehyde. The as‐synthesized monomers are characterized by their high purity as judged from ¹H NMR and Fourier transform infrared spectra. Differential scanning calorimetric thermograms of the novel monomers show two exothermic peaks associated with condensation reaction of methylol groups and ring‐opening polymerization of benzoxazines. The position of methylol group relative to benzoxazine structure plays a significant role in accelerating polymerization. Viscoelastic and thermogravimetric analyses of the crosslinked polymers reveal high T_g (274–343 °C) and excellent thermal stability when compared with the traditional polybenzoxazines. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Intrinsic self‐initiating thermal ring‐opening polymerization of 1,3‐benzoxazines without the influence of impurities using very high purity crystals

A phenol/aniline type monofunctional benzoxazine monomer, PH‐a , is synthesized and highly purified to study the intrinsic thermal ring‐opening polymerization of benzoxazines without the influence of any impurity. The successful synthesis of the monomer and its corresponding chemical structure are confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) spectroscopy. Purity of the compound is evaluated through differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) as well as elemental analysis (EA). Moreover, the thermal behavior of benzoxazine monomer toward polymerization is also studied by DSC, indicating that the highly purified benzoxazine monomer actually polymerize upon heating. The results present evidence of an intrinsic tendency for 1,3‐benzoxazines to undergo thermally induced ring‐opening polymerization upon heating only without any impurity participating during the reaction. This reveals that polybenzoxazines can be obtained by both the traditional thermally accelerated (or activated) polymerization, where impurities or purposefully added initiators are involved in the reaction; or, by the classic thermal polymerization, where only heat is enough to initiate the reaction. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55, 3434–3445     

Soluble alkyl substituted poly(3,4‐propylenedioxyselenophene)s: A new platform for optoelectronic materials

Optical and electrochemical properties of regiosymmetric and soluble alkylenedioxyselenophene‐based electrochromic polymers, namely poly(3,3‐dibutyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐selenopheno[3,4‐b][1,4]dioxephine) (PProDOS‐C₄), poly(3,3‐dihexyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐selenopheno[3,4‐b][1,4]dioxephine) (PProDOS‐C₆), and poly(3,3‐didecyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐selenopheno[3,4‐b][1,4]dioxephine) (PProDOS‐C₁₀), are highlighted. It is noted that these unique polymers have low bandgaps (1.57–1.65 eV), and they are exceptionally stable under ambient atmospheric conditions. Polymer films retained 82–97% of their electroactivity after 5000 cycles. The percent transmittance of PProDOS‐C_n (n = 4, 6, 10) films found to be between 55 and 59%. Furthermore, these novel soluble PProDOS‐C_n polymers showed electrochromic behavior: a color change form pure blue to highly transparent state in a low switching time (1.0 s) during oxidation with high coloration efficiencies (328–864 cm² C^?1) when compared to their thiophene analogues. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011