{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T02:32:10Z","timestamp":1791340330883,"version":"4.3.1"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,5,31]],"date-time":"2018-05-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1527724800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Agricultural Joint Fund of Yunnan Province","award":["2017FG001(-030)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2017FG001(-030)"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["31360159"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["31360159"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["51273163"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["51273163"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Foundation of Yunnan Educational Committee","award":["2016ZZX551"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2016ZZX551"]}]},{"name":"Open foundation of Yunnan University","award":["KF2016001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KF2016001"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Polymers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The structural changes during three-step synthesis of low-molar ratio urea\u2013formaldehyde (UF) resin were tracked by quantitative 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (13C NMR) analysis and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI\u2013MS). Condensations that produced polymers were found to be linked by ether bonds in addition to hydroxymethylation reactions at the first alkaline stage with a formaldehyde to urea ratio of 2:1. Considerable formation of branched methylene linkages, with the highest content among all the condensed structures, was the key feature of the acidic stage. Notable changes were observed for the chemical structures and molecular masses of the resin components after the formaldehyde to urea molar ratio was lowered to 1.2 by adding post-urea at the final alkaline stage. Specifically, most of the branched hydroxymethyl groups on the polymers were cleaved, resulting in a significant decrease in the branching degree of the polymers. The performance degradation of the UF resin was attributed to this debranching effect and the production of components with low molecular masses. Based on the observations, the curing pattern of low molar ratio UF resin was postulated and branched polymeric formaldehyde catcher bearing urea-reactivity was proposed.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/polym10060602","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,5,31]],"date-time":"2018-05-31T03:07:42Z","timestamp":1527736062000},"page":"602","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":55,"title":["Characterization of the Low Molar Ratio Urea\u2013Formaldehyde Resin with 13C NMR and ESI\u2013MS: Negative Effects of the Post-Added Urea on the Urea\u2013Formaldehyde Polymers"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Hui","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The Yunnan Province Key Lab of Wood Adhesives and Glued Products, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ming","family":"Cao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Yunnan Province Key Lab of Wood Adhesives and Glued Products, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0970-7964","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Taohong","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Yunnan Province Key Lab of Wood Adhesives and Glued Products, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China"},{"name":"Key Lab for Forest Resources Conservation and Utilisation in the Southwest Mountains of China, Southwest Forestry University, Ministry of Education, Kunming 650224, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Long","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Yunnan Province Key Lab of Wood Adhesives and Glued Products, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China"},{"name":"Key Lab for Forest Resources Conservation and Utilisation in the Southwest Mountains of China, Southwest Forestry University, Ministry of Education, Kunming 650224, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhigang","family":"Duan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Yunnan Province Key Lab of Wood Adhesives and Glued Products, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaojian","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Yunnan Province Key Lab of Wood Adhesives and Glued Products, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guanben","family":"Du","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Yunnan Province Key Lab of Wood Adhesives and Glued Products, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China"},{"name":"Key Lab for Forest Resources Conservation and Utilisation in the Southwest Mountains of China, Southwest Forestry University, Ministry of Education, Kunming 650224, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,5,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"95","DOI":"10.1016\/S0143-7496(97)00054-7","article-title":"Urea-formaldehyde (UF) adhesive resin for wood","volume":"18","author":"Dunky","year":"1998","journal-title":"Int. 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