Vanillin-derived amines for bio-based thermosets

In the scope of fully bio-based materials development, access to bio-based aromatic amine monomers is one of the main industrial challenges over the coming years. In this paper, new bio-based amine monomers derived from vanillin were prepared by the direct amination of an epoxy monomer with aqueous ammonia. These synthesized amines exhibited high reactivity due to the presence of secondary OH groups. Then these amines were added to epoxies to form thermosets by a cross-linking reaction. After curing, the thermal and mechanical behaviors of the synthesized networks were determined and compared to that of a petroleum-based reference system with DGEBA as an epoxy.