Self-healing polymers based on thermally reversible Diels–Alder chemistry

The development of self-healing materials has received much research attention in the last two decades. This review paper gathers recent publications on the self-healing polymeric materials with thermally reversible Diels–Alder (DA) chemistry. The DA reaction is a [4 + 2] cycloaddition involving a diene and a dienophile. The self-healing polymers employing the furan group as a diene and the maleimide group as a dienophile have been widely studied. Multifunctional furan and maleimide compounds construct thermally reversible crosslinked networks showing removability and remendability. Self-healing materials have also been utilized as healing agents for conventional thermosets like epoxy resins. Other…