Phenolic polyols and rigid cellular compositions derived therefrom

Claim 1

A rigid cellular composition obtained by reacting, in the presence of a polymerization catalyst and a blowing agent, (1) an organic polyisocyanate with (2) a modified high ortho benzyllic ether-containing resole polyol; said polyol obtained by a process comprising reacting at 100° C. to 130° C. a mixture of (a) a phenol which is free of ortho substituents, (b) a molar excess relative to the phenol of a nonaqueous aldehyde having a formula RCHO where R is hydrogen, an alkyl group of 1 to 6 carbon atoms, or a halogenated alkyl group of 1 to 3 carbon atoms, and (c) from 1 to 50 mole percent relative to the phenol of an aliphatic hydroxyl compound having 1 to 4 hydroxyl groups, 1 to 12 carbon atoms, and 0 to 5 ether oxygen atoms, in the presence of a catalytic amount of a metal derivative selected from the group consisting of (i) carboxylate salts of divalent ions of Mn, Zn, Cd, Mg, Co, Ni, Fe, Pb, Ca, Ba, and di(C 2 -C 5 alkyl)tin where the carboxylate ions each contains 1 to 20 carbon atoms, and (ii) (C n H 2n+1 ) 4 TiO 4 where n is an integer of 3 to 8.