Reactive solvents of melamine were prepared by reacting ketones with an excess of formaldehyde in the presence of triethylamine catalyst. The ketones used were cyclohexanone, cyclopentanone, acetophenone, benzoylacetone, biacetyl, or ethyl-methyl ketone. The structures of the resulting reactive solvents were studied by H-1-NMR. The best solubility of melamine was observed for the solvent derived from ethyl-methyl ketone. Preliminary attempts at curing the melamine solutions yielded melamine-formaidehyde-ketone polymers. (C) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.