To
fulfill the principles of green chemistry, renewable magnolol
and furfurylamine were taken to synthesize benzoxazine under microwave
irradiation using poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as the solvent. The
reaction was monitored by the yield of target compound under varied
conditions. Only in 5 min, the yield of target benzoxazine monomer
(M-fa) could be high up to 73.5% in PEG 600 system, indicating the
desired advantage of microwave irradiation for benzoxazine synthesis.
After the chemical structure of M-fa was confirmed, its polymerization
behavior, processability, and thermo-mechanical properties were carefully
evaluated. The cured resins presented a high glass transition temperature
of 303 °C and exceedingly good thermal stability with 5% and
10% weight-loss temperature higher than 440 and 463 °C, respectively,
and a char yield of 61.3%. In addition, M-fa demonstrated viscosity
lower than 1 Pa·s during the temperature range from 100 to 194
°C, which indicated its good processability. This work provided
us a strategy for the synthesis of high bio-based content high-performance
thermosets under environmental-friendly conditions, that is, microwave-assisted
heating method and green solvent.