Synthesis and characterization of polymers based on the cyanate functional group

We are interested in establishing the cyanate reaction chemistry and explaining the higher gel conversion values. On the basis of our studies we find the gel conversion for the bifunctional cyanate monomer to be between 58%-64%. From the linking chemistry studies we find that trimerization in the dominant reaction. Further, the side reaction is most likely to be a triple bond opening reaction that proceeds through chain polymerization. Thus the functionally of the side reaction for network growth is 4. If trimerization is assumed to be the dominant reaction the functionality for network growth is 3 and therefore the mean-field gel conversion is 50%. The monomers are highly pure and there is no evidence of loss of functionality during polymerization. The functional groups are far apart on the monomer so no substitution effect is expected. The above conclusions rule out simple chemical explanations of the delayed gel conversion observed in these systems. They suggest that mean-field theory is not applicable to cyanate polymerization.