Synthesis and properties of a second‐order nonlinear optical side‐chain polyimide

A thermal stable aromatic polyimide (PI) with side‐chain second‐order nonlinear optical (NLO) chromophores has been developed. The PI was prepared by the ring‐opening polyaddition of 4,4′‐(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphthalic anhydride with a new diamine having two N‐ethyl‐N‐[4‐[(6‐chlorobenzothiazol‐2‐yl)diazenyl]phenyl]‐2‐aminoethanol units as the NLO chromophore, followed by poling during or after the thermal imidization process. The resulting PI had number and weight‐average molecular weights (M_n, M_w) of 25,000 and 80,000, respectively, and a relatively high glass transition temperature of 180°C. The second harmonic coefficient (d₃₃) of PI at the wavelength of 1.064 μm was 138 pm/V (329.6 × 10⁻⁹ esu) and remained unchanged at elevated temperatures. The corona poling process of the NLO‐substituted poly(amic acid) to the PI was also studied in detail by measuring the second harmonic generation (SHG) from the polymer films. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 37: 1321–1329, 1999