Processable high Tg high strength fluorinated new poly(arylene ether)s containing imido aryl group

A series of poly(arylene ether)s (7a–7f) were successfully synthesized by aromatic nucleophilic substitution reactions of imidoaryl biphenol (5), 4,9-bis-(4-hydroxy-phenyl)-2-phenyl-benzo[f]isoindole-1,3-dione with six different trifluoromethyl substituted bisfluoro monomers (6a–6f). The weight-average molar masses of the polymers were up to 280 kD as measured by GPC. These poly(arylene ether)s exhibited glass transition temperatures up to 361°C in DSC. These polymers showed very high thermal stability up to 558°C for 10% weight loss under synthetic air in TGA. Except 7d–7f, remaining polymers 7a–7c were soluble in a wide range of organic solvents. Transparent thin films of these polymers cast from DCM or NMP exhibited tensile strengths up to 75 MPa and elongation at break up to 41% depending on their exact repeating unit structures. These poly(arylene ether)s showed cut-off wavelength in between 400 and 450 nm except 7d and water absorption were in the range of 0.4 to 0.6%. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011