Electronic effects of asymmetric and meta-alkoxy substituents on the polymerization behavior of bis-benzoxazines

Abstract

Three isomers of benzoxazine monomers based on m-alkoxyphenol and 4,4′-methylenedianiline were synthesized and successfully isolated by column chromatography. The molecular structures of benzoxazine monomers were confirmed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The polymerization behavior evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) shows that the asymmetric isomer, which has a methoxy group at the 5-position and 7-positions (5,7′MO-ddm), has only one exothermic peak between temperatures of the other two symmetric isomers. The ¹H NMR spectrum of monomers shows that the type and position of alkoxy groups can exert different effects on the electron density of the oxazine ring, and may result in a sensitive trend of ring-opening. The difference in electron densities was verified by the Gaussian simulation calculation results of natural charges. In this work, we provide a fundamental molecular-level understanding of the polymerization mechanism of asymmetric bis-benzoxazines, which can provide possibilities for designing new benzoxazines in order to solve the potential disadvantages of benzoxazines/polybenzoxazines and/or enhance their advantages.