K. Lenghaus et al., 3,5-dimethylphenol resole resins: their structure and mechanism of thermaldecomposition leading to graphitisation, POLYMER, 42(18), 2001, pp. 7523-7529
Novel model compounds based on 3,5-dimethylphenol were used to determine th
e structure of graphitisable 3,5-dimethylphenol resins. The base catalysed
reaction of 3,5-dimethylphenol with formaldehyde was found to give a solid,
which CP-MAS C-13 NMR showed to have a predominately Linear structure, hig
hly condensed but with few crosslinks. Model studies showed that the 3,5-di
methylphenol material was readily able to form xanthene type structures, un
like phenol derived material. The presence of xanthene structures can accou
nt for the unusual properties of 3,5-dimethylphenol derived resins, includi
ng oxygen sensitivity and graphitisability. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd.
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