Curing Behavior of Epoxy Resin Initiated by Amine-Containing Inclusion Complexes

Imidazole derivatives and alkylamines are very useful as hardeners of epoxy resins. These amine compounds form inclusion complexes with 1,1,2,2-tetrakis(4-hydroxyphenyl) ethane (TEP). When these amine-con- taining inclusion complexes are reacted with epoxy resins, curing acceleration, pot life extension, and higher curing temperatures are observed. An explanation for this curing behavior is that guest molecule ''amine compounds'' are trapped in inclusion complex crystals. X-Ray crystal structure data shows the existence of O-H-N hydrogen bonding between host and guest mole- cules. With the imidazole molecule in the inclusion complex, hydrogen bonding prevents easy attack of the epoxy ring. Amine-TEP inclusion complexes show these enhanced curing behaviors when reacted with epoxy resins.