Poly(arylene ether)s with pendant diphenyl phosphoryl groups: Synthesis,characterization, and thermal properties

A series of poly(arylene ether)s, (PAEs), carrying a pendant diphenyl phosphoryl group were prepared via the nucleophilic aromatic substitution (NAS) reactions of 3,5‐difluorotriphenylphosphine oxide, 6 . The difluoro monomer 6 was synthesized via two‐step reaction sequence and subsequently characterized by ¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁹F, and ³¹P NMR spectroscopy, GC/MS, and elemental analysis. The reactivity of the electrophilic sites in 6 , activated by only a diphenylphosphoryl group located in the meta‐position, in 6 was probed via NMR spectroscopy and model reactions and was determined to be sufficient to undergo typical NAS reactions. High molecular weight, amorphous, organic soluble poly(arylene ether)s, bearing a pendant diphenylphosphoryl group, were prepared via the reaction of 6 with a variety of bis‐phenols under typical NAS conditions. The poly(arylene ether)s were characterized for structure via the use of ¹H, ¹³C, and ³¹P NMR spectroscopy while their thermal properties were evaluated using DSC and TGA analysis. The glass transition temperatures (T_g) of the synthesized PAEs ranged from 143 to 175 °C, while their 5% weight loss temperatures ranged from 467 to 510 °C under nitrogen and from 470 to 526 °C in air. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011