Synthesis of polybenzoxazine/clay nanocomposites by in situ thermal ring‐opening polymerization using intercalated monomer

A new class of polybenzoxazine/montmorillonite (PBz/MMT) nanocomposites has been prepared by the in situ polymerization of the typical fluid benzoxazine monomer, 3‐pentyl‐5‐ol‐3,4‐dihydro‐1,3‐benzoxazine, with intercalated benzoxazine MMT clay. A pyridine‐substituted benzoxazine was first synthesized and quaternized by 11‐bromo‐1‐undecanol and then used for ion exchange reaction with sodium ions in MMT to obtain intercalated benzoxazine clay. Finally, this organomodified clay was dispersed in the fluid benzoxazine monomers at different loading degrees to conduct the in situ thermal ring‐opening polymerization. Polymerization through the interlayer galleries of the clay led to the PBz/MMT nanocomposite formation. The morphologies of the nanocomposites were investigated by both X‐ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopic techniques, which suggested the partially exfoliated/intercalated structures in the PBz matrix. Results of thermogravimetric analysis confirmed that the thermal stability and char yield of PBz nanocomposites increased with the increase of clay content. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

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     

A novel benzimidazole moiety‐containing benzoxazine: Synthesis,polymerization, and thermal properties

A novel benzoxazine‐containing benzimidazole moiety (P‐PABZ) was synthesized from 2‐(4‐aminophenyl)‐1H‐benzimidazole‐5‐amine and characterized. With the aid of differential scanning calorimetry and in situ Fourier transform infrared, we found the thermal polymerization of P‐PABZ in bulk started around 140 °C and its favored polymerization pathway. Compared to the benzoxazine derived from 4,4′‐diamine diphenyl methane (P‐MDA), P‐PABZ exhibited lower processing temperature, and the corresponding polymers had higher glass transition temperature and enhanced thermal stability. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

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     

Acceleration effect of N‐allyl group on thermally induced ring‐opening polymerization of 1,3‐benzoxazine

Thermally induced ring‐opening polymerization of monofunctional N‐allyl‐1,3‐benzoxazine 1a was compared with that of N‐(n‐propyl)‐1,3‐benzoxazine 1b to clarify an unexpected effect of allyl group to promote the polymerization, that is, in spite of the comparable bulkiness of allyl group to n‐propyl group, the polymerization of 1a was much faster than that of 1b . Such a difference in polymerization rate was also observed similarly in the comparison of thermally induced polymerization of a bifunctional N‐allyl‐benzoxazine 2a with that of a bifunctional N‐(n‐propyl) analogue 2b . These observations implied a certain contribution of an electron‐rich C? C double bond of the N‐ally group to promotion of the ring‐opening reaction of 1,3‐benzoxazine into the corresponding zwitterionic species, which would involve a mechanism to stabilize the cationic part of the zwitterionic species based on “neighboring group participation” of the C? C double bond. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2010     

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     

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 of polymers bearing 1,3‐benzoxazine moiety in the side chains from poly(allylamine) and their crosslinking behaviors

A polymer bearing 1,3‐benzoxazine moiety in the side chain was synthesized successfully from poly(allylamine) based on a stepwise strategy consisted of three steps: (1) treatment of poly(allylamine) with salicylaldehyde to convert the amino group in the side chain into the corresponding o‐(iminomethyl)phenol moiety, (2) reduction of the o‐(iminomethyl)phenol to obtain the corresponding o‐(aminomethyl)phenol moiety, and (3) formation of 1,3‐benzoxazine moiety by the reaction of the o‐(aminomethyl)phenol with formaldehyde. The content ratio of benzoxazine moieties and o‐(aminomethyl)phenol moieties in the polymer were tunable by varying amount of formaldehyde. The presence of o‐(aminomethyl)phenol moieties exhibited a significant promoting effect on the crosslinking reaction. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

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 and properties of novel benzoxazine and polybenzoxazine with maleimide groups

A benzoxazine compound with a maleimide group, 3‐phenyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐6‐(N‐maleimido)‐1,3‐benzoxazine (HPM‐Ba), was prepared from N‐(4‐hydroxyphenyl)maleimide, formaldehyde, and aniline. The chemical structure of HBM‐Ba was identified by FT‐IR, ¹H‐NMR, and elemental analysis. HPM‐Ba showed a melting point of 52–55 °C and good solubility in common organic solvents. HPM‐Ba showed a two‐stage process of thermal polymerization. The first stage arose from the polymerization of maleimide groups, and the second one was the ring‐opening reaction of benzoxazine groups. Fusible polymaleimides with a Tg of around 100 °C could be obtained by thermally polymerizing HPM‐Ba at 130 °C. Further polymerizing the polymaleimides at 240 °C resulted in a completely cured resin showing a Tg at 204 °C. Good thermal stability and self‐extinguishing behavior was observed with the cured polybenzoxazine resins. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 5954–5963, 2004     

Bifunctional benzoxazines: Synthesis and polymerization of resorcinol based single isomers

Aside from their outstanding properties such as thermal and chemical stability and excellent mechanical performance, benzoxazines suffer from high polymerization temperatures. Isomeric mixtures of bifunctional benzoxazines based on resorcinol proved already to be highly reactive monomers enabling polymerizations at lower temperatures. This contribution describes the polymerization behavior of single benzoxazine isomers and furthermore the influence of different substituents at the aniline moiety on the curing temperature. Single isomers of bifunctional benzoxazines are now accessible in a straightforward one‐pot synthesis starting from resorcinol and the appropriate N‐phenyl functionalized aniline component. The asymmetric benzoxazine monomers bearing no (R‐a: T_peak = 179 °C) or electron‐donating substituents in meta position to N (R‐3,5dma: T_peak = 183 °C) succeed in lowering the polymerization temperature. Additionally, the impact of several initiating systems was studied resulting in a decrease of the polymerization temperature for all studied resorcinol derived benzoxazine isomers (down to 144 °C). © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 1243–1251     

Hydrogen‐bonding characteristics and unique ring‐opening polymerization behavior of Ortho‐methylol functional benzoxazine

Monofunctional benzoxazine with ortho‐methylol functionality has been synthesized and highly purified. The chemical structure of the synthesized monomer has been confirmed by ¹H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR) and elemental analysis. One‐dimensional (1D) ¹H NMR is used with respect to varied concentration of benzoxazines to study the specific nature of hydrogen bonding in both ortho‐methylol functional benzoxazine and its para counterpart. The polymerization behavior of benzoxazine monomer has been also studied by in situ FT‐IR and differential scanning calorimetry, experimentally supporting the polymerization mechanism of ortho‐methylol functional benzoxazine we proposed before. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 3635–3642     

Substituent effects of N‐alkyl groups on thermally induced polymerization behavior of 1,3‐benzoxazines

Thermally induced polymerizations of a series of 1,3‐benzoxazines with a variety of substituents on the nitrogen atom were investigated in detail, particularly in the following three aspects of the polymerization: (1) N‐alkyl‐1,3‐benzoxazines are much more reactive than N‐phenyl‐1,3‐benzoxazine. (2) The polymerization rate depended on the bulkiness of the N‐substituent. The bulkier the substituent was, the slower the polymerization was. (3) The polymerizations accompanied weight loss due to the elimination of the corresponding imine (R‐N = CH₂), and its extent became larger when R was more bulky. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 2777–2782, 2010     

Synthesis and crosslinking reaction of a novel polymer containing benzoxazine and phenyleneethynylene moieties in the main chain

A novel polymer, poly( 1 ) containing benzoxazine and phenyleneethynylene moieties in the main chain with number‐average molecular weights ranging from 1400 to 9800 was obtained quantitatively by the Sonogashira–Hagihara coupling polymerization of the corresponding iodophenyl‐ and ethynylphenyl‐substituted monomer 1 . Poly( 1 ) was heated at 200 °C under N₂ for 2 h to obtain the cured polymer, poly( 1 )′ via the ring‐opening polymerization of the benzoxazine moieties. The structures of the polymer before and after curing were confirmed by ¹H‐NMR, IR, and UV–vis absorption and reflectance spectroscopies. Poly( 1 )′ was thermally more stable than monomer 1 and poly( 1 ). A specimen was prepared from a mixture of poly( 1 ) and phenol‐diaminodiphenylmethane type benzoxazine 2 by heating at 200 °C for 2 h under N₂. The poly( 1 )/ 2 resin was thermally stable than bisphenol‐A type benzoxazine resin 3 . Poly( 1 ) exhibited XRD peaks corresponding to the d‐spacings of 1.26–0.98 and 0.40 nm, assignable to the repeating monomer unit and alignment of polymer molecules, respectively. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019 , 57, 2581–2589     

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     

Promoting effect of thiophenols on the ring‐opening polymerization of 1,3‐benzoxazine

Thiophenol and p‐nitrothiophenol were evaluated as promoters for the ring opening polymerization of benzoxazine. The ring‐opening polymerization of p‐cresol type monofunctional N‐phenyl benzoxazine 1a with 10 mol % of thiophenols proceeded at 150 °C, leading to the high conversion of 1a more than 95% within 5 h, whereas the polymerization of 1a without thiophenols did not proceed under the same conditions. The promotion effect of the thiophenols on curing of bisphenol‐A type N‐phenyl benzoxazine 1b was also investigated. In the differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) analysis of the polymerization of 1b at 150 °C without using any promoters, an exothermic peak attributable to the ring‐opening reaction of benzoxazine was observed after 8 h. In contrast, in the DSC analysis of the polymerization of 1b with addition 20 mol % of p‐nitrothiophenol, an exothermic peak was observed within 2 h, to clarify the significant promoting effect of p‐nitrothiophenol. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 2523–2527     

Functional 1,3‐benzoxazine bearing 4‐pyridyl group: Synthesis and thermally induced polymerization behavior

1,3‐benzoxazine 1 , bearing 4‐pyridyl moiety on the nitrogen atom, was synthesized from p‐cresol, 4‐aminopyridine, and paraformaldehyde. The efficient synthesis was achieved by adding acetic acid to suppress the strong basicity caused by the presence of 4‐aminopyridine derivatives. Upon heating 1 at 180 °C, it underwent the thermally induced ring‐opening polymerization. The resulting polymer was composed of two types of repeating unit, i.e., (1) Mannich‐type one (‐phenol‐CH₂‐NR‐CH₂‐) that can be expected from the general ring‐opening polymerization of conventional benzoxazines and (2) a typical phenolic resin‐type one (‐phenol‐CH₂‐phenol‐) induced by release of 4‐aminopyridine and paraformaldehyde (unit B). Another structural feature of the polymer was that it possessed a benzoxazine moiety at the chain end. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 410–416     

Polyaddition of bifunctional 1,3‐benzoxazine and 2‐methylresorcinol

A polyaddition system consisted of a bifunctional N‐n‐propyl benzoxazine and 2‐methylresorcinol ( MR ) that proceeds at ambient temperature has been developed. In this system, the aromatic ring of MR acted as a bifunctional monomer, reacting with a two equivalent amount of benzoxazine moieties via their ring‐opening reaction. The polyaddition gave the corresponding linear polymer bearing phenolic moieties bridged by Mannich‐type linkage in the main chain. The linear polymer had a high glass transition temperature, which was comparable to that of the linear polybenzoxazine synthesized by the ring‐opening polymerization of a monofunctional N‐n‐propyl benzoxazine. The employment of a bifunctional N‐allyl benzoxazine in the polyaddition system resulted in the formation of the corresponding polymer with allyl pendants, which exhibited improved heat resistance due to its thermally induced crosslinking reaction. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013 , 51, 3867–3872     

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     

Construction of reversible hydration–dehydration system by a model compound and a novel polymer bearing vicinal tricarbonyl structure

A novel polymer bearing acyclic vicinal tricarbonyl moieties in the side chains was synthesized by (1) radical polymerization of a styrene derivative with a 1,3‐diketone structure and (2) successive treatment of the resulting polystyrene derivative by N‐bromosuccinimide to convert its 1,3‐diketone moiety in the side chains into the corresponding vicinal tricarbonyl moiety. The tricarbonyl moiety was highly reactive with water to permit its rapid conversion into a geminal diol structure in water‐containing acetone. On the other hand, heating the resulting polymer bearing the geminal diol structure under vacuum enabled successful recovery of the vicinal tricarbonyl moiety to demonstrate the reversible nature of this system, which allowed us to repeat the hydration–dehydration cycle without deteriorating the polymer structure. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011