Processable, high performance cyanate ester from magnolia bark extract

In this work, a high performance thermoset material was made from the natural product honokiol which is a diphenolic lignan derived from magnolia bark extract ( Magnolia officinalis ). Honokiol was cyanated to form the corresponding honokiol dicyanate ester (HONOCY), which was thermally cured forming honokiol polycyanurate (HONOPC) thermoset which was fully characterized. The cyanate ester resin showed excellent low temperature viscosity (0.2 Pa s at 55 °C), while the cured polycyanurate had char yields of 75% and 64% up to 600 °C in nitrogen and air atmospheres, respectively. The polycyanurate had a high decomposition temperature of 449 °C along with a glass transition temperature greater than 400 °C. HONOCY then represents a significant improvement for low temperature processing of high performance bio‐based cyanate ester polymers for high temperature applications.