Ring opening polymerization of epoxides with urea-derivatives of 4-aminopyridine as thermally latent anionic initiator

ABSTRACT In this study, a series of urea‐derivatives of 4‐aminopyridine (4AP) were evaluated as thermally latent initiators for the anionic ring‐opening polymerization of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA). The urea‐derivatives were synthesized by the reactions of 4AP with the corresponding iso(thio)cyanates (phenyl isocyanate, tert‐butyl isocyanate, methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, and phenyl isothiocyanate). The ability of the urea‐derivatives as latent initiators was investigated with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC): Upon heating formulations comprised of DGEBA and the urea‐derivatives in a heating rate at 10 °C/min, the resulting DSC profiles indicated exothermic peaks to confirm that DGEBA underwent the polymerization efficiently. The corresponding DSC‐peak top temperatures (Tpeak top) was higher than that observed for the formulation comprised of DGEBA and pristine 4AP, to clarify that the urea are useful initiators with thermal latency. A possible mechanism for the initiation step involves the thermal dissociation of the urea into 4AP and the corresponding isocyanates. 4AP thus generated readily initiated the ring‐opening polymerization of epoxide. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014, 52, 2518–2522 A series of urea‐derivatives of 4‐aminopyridine were used as thermally latent initiators for the ring‐opening polymerization of epoxides. It was implied that the urea‐derivatives mixed with diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) underwent the thermal dissociation above the specific threshold temperatures, and the 4‐aminopyridine released from the urea‐derivatives initiated the ring‐opening polymerization of DGEBA.