Biobased thermally-stable aromatic cyanate ester thermosets: A review

Over the past decade, both academic researchers and industrial engineers explored the use of renewable reagents for producing high-performance polymers. This interest was driven by the abundance of natural resources, their economic cost, their limited health impacts as well as the strong environmental awareness, which is an increasingly important issue. Recently, various renewable chemical reactants have been used to synthesize and design high-performance bio-based cyanate ester thermosets suitable for several relevant applications including resistant coatings, adhesives for composites, and microelectronics. This review affords an overview of the recent progress on the synthesis methods, structure-property relationship, and applications of biobased cyanate ester polymer and discusses the future use of bioresources to produce such thermosets. [Display omitted] •The biobased phenols based aromatic cyanate ester monomers were outlined.•The renewable aromatic cyanate esters showed outstanding thermal stability.•The green aromatic cyanate ester networks demonstrated reduced water-uptake.•The properties of aromatic cyanate esters depend on the biobased phenol structure.•The biobased cyanate esters can substitute the petroleum-based ones in some applications.