A facile synthesis of aliphatic polybenzoxazoles from a bis(o-aminophenol) or its hydrochloride and aliphatic dinitriles

A facile one-step method for the synthesis of aliphatic polybenzoxazoles has been developed. Thus, a series of aliphatic polybenzoxazoles having inherent viscosities of 0.2–0.7 dL/g in concentrated sulfuric acid were successfully synthesized by the melt polycondensation of alipatic dinitriles with 4,4′-diamino-3,3′-dihydroxybiphenyl (AHB) or its hydrochloride (AHB–HCl) with the elimination of ammonia or ammonium chloride, respectively. Monomer AHB–HCl was more reactive than the parent AHB, thereby affording higher molecular weight polybenzoxazoles in a shorter reaction time. The aliphatic polybenzoxazoles having 6–10 methylene units were highly crystalline with melting temperatures in the range of 187–308°C, which were stable up to 400°C in a melt state in nitrogen. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.