Compositions and process for stabilizing phenolic resins containing calixarenes

1. A process for stabilizing or solubilizing a phenolic resin mixture, comprising:

reacting a phenolic resin mixture comprising linear phenolic resins and calixarene compounds having pendant phenolic hydroxyl groups with one or more compounds of formula (III):

an optional catalyst, and at least one hydrocarbon solvent at an elevated temperature for a period of time sufficient to alkoxylate one or more of the phenolic hydroxyl groups of the linear phenolic resins and/or calixarene compounds in the phenolic resin mixture to result in a resin solution substantially free of undissolved solid components, wherein the solubility of the phenolic resin mixture is increased by at least 20% compared to a phenolic resin mixture that is not subjected to said reacting step,

wherein

R 2 is a H, C 1 to C 20 branched or unbranched alkyl which may optionally be substituted with one or more glycidyl ether units of the formula

C 2 to C 10 alkenyl, or C 5 to C 10 aryl; and

m is an integer from 0 to 10.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein, on average, about 0.1 to about 20 moles of the compounds of formula (III) are added to react with each mole of the phenolic units of the phenolic resin.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst is present and is selected from the group consisting of sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate, triethylamine, imidazole, 2-methylimidazole, pyridine, and combinations thereof.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the elevated temperature is in the range of 110-170° C.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein less than 5% of residual compound of formula (III) remains unreacted within 1 hour of the addition of the compound of formula (III).

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein R 2 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, iso-propyl, n-butyl, iso-butyl, tert-butyl, allyl, ethylhexyl, octyl, nonyl, decyl, phenyl, nonylphenyl, and hexadecyl; or is a C 1 to C 20 branched or unbranched alkyl substituted with one or more glycidyl ether units of the formula

7. The process of claim 6 , wherein R 2 is n-butyl or

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the calixarene compounds comprise 4-20 units of formula (II):

wherein

each R 1 is independently a H, C 1 to C 30 alkyl, phenyl, or arylalkyl;

each L is independently selected from the group consisting of —CH 2 —, —C(O)—, —CH(R 3 )—, —(CH 2 ) n —O—(CH 2 ) n —, and —C(R 3 ) 2 —;

each R 3 is independently a C 1 -C 6 alkyl;

each n is independently an integer from 1 to 2;

each A 1 represents a direct covalent bond to an adjacent unit of formula (II) such that there is one L group between adjacent units, whereby the total units in the calixarene compound form a ring.

9. The process of claim 8 , wherein each R 1 is independently a C 4 to C 12 or C 24 to C 28 alkyl.

10. The process of claim 8 , wherein the total number of units in the calixarene compounds is from 4 to 8.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein less than 10% of solid components precipitate out of the solvent after the storage of 24 hours or longer.

12. A stabilized or solubilized phenolic resin prepared from the process of claim 1 .

13. The process of claim 1 , wherein the m integer recitation includes the proviso that when m is 0, each R 2 is independently C 5 to C 10 aryl.

14. The process of claim 1 , wherein each m is 0 or 1.

15. The process of claim 14 , wherein each m is 1.

16. The process of claim 14 , wherein each m is 0.

17. The process of claim 13 , wherein each m is 0.

18. The process of claim 9 , wherein each R 1 is independently tert-butyl, nonyl, or tert-octyl.