Aldehyde methacrylates derived from hydroxybenzaldehydes.

Three crystalline aldehyde methacrylates with low melting points were synthesized from the readily available, isomeric hydroxybenzaldehydes and 2-bromoethyl methacrylate. These monomers can be purified by recrystallization and liquified by admixture in various proportions to obtain polymerizable liquids having workable viscosities at room temperature. These monomers may be used alone or as blends with other methacrylates since they are miscible and copolymerizable with the usual dental monomers. Also, they should be studied with other functional methacrylates designed to promote adhesion via the mineral phase to determine if this synergistic approach can improve the adhesion of dental resins to dentin. These aldehyde methacrylates, their mixtures, polymers and copolymers merit evaluation as adhesion-promoting agents for proteinaceous substrates such as bone and dentin.