A new, simplified synthetic route is reported for a novel family of functionalized cyanate monomers. Importantly, the synthetic route has fewer purification requirements, making it a potentially cheaper and more efficient route than previously reported syntheses. The products have been characterized extensively using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. Bearing alkenyl groups, these materials have the ability to form copolymeric networks with a wide variety of monomers, to yield high performance composite matrices.