Silsesquioxanes polyhedral, monofunctional

An obvious extension of polyhedral silsesquioxane materials chemistry would be the incorporation of suitably functionalized POSS cages into important classes of thermoset resins, such as epoxy, phenolic, vinyl ester, styrene/divinylbenzene, acrylic resins and hydrocarbon networks. However, little has appeared in the literature, except for a few examples already discussed. This is an area in which our laboratory has become quite active. Two general types of substituted POSS monomers can be chemically incorporated into such resins. First, monofunctional monomers can be used. Alternatively, difunctional or polyfunctional POSS monomers can be used. Incorporating a monofunctional POSS monomer can actually lower flie resulting resin s crosslink density if the amoimt of the monofunctional POSS monomers in the commercial resin s monomer mixture is held constant. The POSS cages with organic functions attached to its comers have typical diameters of 1.2-1.5 run. Therefore, each POSS monomer occupies a substantial voliune. When that POSS... 

Abad MJ, Barral L, Fasce DP, Williams RJJ (2003) Epoxy networks containing large mass fractions of a monofunctional polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS). Macromolecules 36(9) 3128-3135. doi 10.1021/ma021539f... 

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