CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Polybenzoxazines are a relatively new type of thermoset polymer that has primarily been used for the development of composite materials. However, there is an existing interest in expanding the applications for this family of polymers. One way of achieving this goal is by taking advantage of the molecular structure, where the presence of oxygen and nitrogen atoms with lone electron pairs allows the formation of coordination complexes and chelates between the benzoxazine oligomers and polymers with metal ions. This article is focused on studying the relationship between the spatial conformation of the polybenzoxazine and the capacity to form coordination complexes from a fundamental point of view as well as practical applications of this concept. Thus, it can be seen that use of polybenzoxazines for the removal of heavy metals from water and the use of benzoxazine dimers for the synthesis of CeO2 nanoparticles are examples of very different applications based on the same working principle.