The curing behavior of polydimethylsiloxane-modified allylated. novolac/4,4'-bismaleimidodiphenylmethane resin (PDMS-modified AN/BDM) was investigated by using Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry. The results of FUR confirmed that the curing reactions of the PDMS-modified AN/BDM resins, including "Ene" reaction and Diels-Alder reaction between allyl groups and maleimide groups, should be similar to those of the parent allylated novolac/4,4'-bismaleimidodiphenytmethane (AN/BDM) resin. The results of dynamic DSC showed that the total curing enthalpy of the PDMS-modified AN/BDM resins was lower than that of the parent resin. Incorporation of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) into the backbone of the allylated novolac (AN) resin favored the Claisen rearrangement reaction of allyl groups. The isothermal DSC method was used to study the kinetics of the curing process. The experimental data for the parent AN/BDM resin and the PDMS-modified AN/BDM resins exhibited an nth-order behavior. (C) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.