A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF THE RELATIVE REACTIVITY OF ALKENYL-FUNCTIONALIZED TOUGHENING MODIFIERS FOR BIS-MALEIMIDES

A study of the copolymerization of HPLC-pure bis(4-maleimidophenyl)methane (DDM-BMI) with four alkenyl-functionalized aromatic comonomers using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and the effects of various catalysts on the reaction is presented. The added catalysts appeared to have little effect on the overall polymerization behaviour and the onset of reaction was largely governed by the fusion temperature of the DDM-BMI monomer. However, the maximum rate (during scanning at 10K/minute) was dependent on the structures of the alkenyl co-monomers. A study of the relative reactivity of ortho disubstituted allyl and propenyl bis-phenols employing DSC and dilute solution Fourier transform infra-red (FT-IR) spectroscopy is also presented. Attempts are made to reconcile the reactivity with the nature and orientation of the substituents.