Use of biologically-derived polyphenols for the preparation of epoxy resins is described. Examples of biologically-derived polyphenols include resveratrol, genistein, daidzein, and polyphenols synthesized from tyrosine. Because the epoxy resins are prepared from biologically-derived materials, they provide epoxy resins that will degrade into biologically harmless materials. The epoxy resins can be used to provide coating compositions.

A liquid epoxy resin composition having a reduced tendency to crystallize including at least one liquid epoxy resin having the following generic chemical Structure (I): where n is 0 or an integer of 1 or more; and wherein n=0 is in the range of between about 1 wt % and about 90 wt %; wherein; n=1 is in the range of between about 7 wt % and about 20 wt %; n=2 is in the range of between about 0.8 wt % and about 3 wt %; and n=3 and above is in the range of about 0 wt % and about 2 wt %. ##STR00001##

A crosslinking composition includes a compound having at least two functional groups that are each independently represented by Chemical Structure (I): ##STR00001##
X is an oxygen, sulfur, or nitrogen; R.sup.1 is an alkyl group, an aryl group, or an alkylaryl group; R.sup.2, R.sup.3, and R.sup.4 are each independently an alkyl group, an aryl group, an alkylaryl group, or a hydrogen; R.sup.5 is an alkyl group, an aryl group, an alkylaryl group, or a hydrogen; z is 0 when X is oxygen or sulfur and z is 1 when X is nitrogen; and when a double bond is formed between a carbon atom bonded to R.sup.3 and an adjacent nitrogen, m is 0, and when a single bond is formed between the carbon atom bonded to R.sup.3 and the adjacent nitrogen, m is 1.

A polyhydric phenol resin is provided. The polyhydric phenol resin comprises a polyhydric phenol resin component and a first component. When the polyhydric phenol resin is characterized in a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), the first component is eluted at a retention time ranging from 27.1 minutes to 28.0 minutes, and based on the total area of the chromatographic peaks of the polyhydric phenol resin, the area percentage of the chromatographic peak of the first component at the corresponding retention time in the spectrum ranges from 1.0% to 20%.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a surface sealing material which has high storage stability and is capable of forming, on an object to be coated such as an organic EL element, a cured product layer that has less irregularity, cissing and the like, while having high surface smoothness. A surface sealing material for organic EL elements according to the present invention contains (B) a cationically polymerizable compound that comprises a cationically polymerizable functional group in each molecule and has a structure represented by formula (1) —(R—O).sub.n— (wherein R represents an alkylene group having 2-5 carbon atoms and n represents an integer of 1-150), (C) a thermal cationic polymerization initiator and (D) a leveling agent.

The present invention is to provide polyether compounds having epoxy hydroxyl urethane group, as the following formula (I), (II) or (III) shows:

##STR00001##

and waterborne epoxy resin composition. Using the hydroxyl urethane as emulsifier, the obtained waterborne epoxy resin composition of the present invention has better stability and freeze-thaw resistance.

Disclosed is a method for producing a biphenyl-skeleton-containing epoxy resin represented by Formula (1) described below including a step of allowing polyvalent hydroxy biphenyl obtained by a production step including a regioselective cross-coupling reaction to react with epihalohydrin. ##STR00001##
(In the formula, k1 and l1 each represent an integer of 0 to 4, m and n each represent an integer of 1 to 5, R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each independently represent a hydrocarbon group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms which may have a substituent group, and R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 may be identical to each other or different from each other. (Provided that left and right phenyl structures of a biphenyl skeleton are different from each other.)

Noise, vibration, or harshness (NVH) properties of an industrial or consumer product are reduced by incorporating therein an effective amount of a polyether- or polyester-epoxide polymer (PEEP) composition. The PEEP compositions are one-component or two-component reaction products of a polyepoxide compound and a polyol composition. The PEEP compositions have a glass-transition temperature within the range of −50° C. to 50° C. and a loss factor of at least 0.5 by ASTM D5992 over a temperature range of at least 15 Celsius degrees at one or more frequencies within the range of 0.1 to 10,000 Hz. The PEEP compositions provide NVH damping over a broad temperature range, have improved flexibility compared with conventional epoxy technologies, avoid amine and isocyanate reactants, and can be tailored to meet target specifications.

A liquid epoxy resin composition is provided. In preferred embodiments, the liquid epoxy resin composition is free of bisphenol A, bisphenol F, and bisphenol S, including epoxides thereof, and is useful in preparing a polyether polymer having utility in coating compositions, including, e.g., coating compositions for use on food or beverage containers.

The present invention provides an epoxy resin including a reaction product of 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene and an epihalohydrin, the epoxy resin containing a cyclic compound that has a cyclic structure containing, as constitutional atoms, oxygen atoms at 1-position and 2-position derived from 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene, the cyclic compound being contained in an amount of 0.003 to 0.070 mol based on 100 g of the epoxy resin. The epoxy resin is liquid and is excellent in pyrolysis resistance.