Synthesis, characterization and properties of heat-resistant and soluble poly(aryl ether)s containing s-triazine units in the main chain

Soluble and heat-resistant s-triazine-containing poly(aryl ether)s have been prepared for their potent utilities as high-temperature membranes and composite matrix materials. They have been synthesized by the nucleophilic displacement polymerization of 2,4-bis(4-fluorophenyl)-6-phenyl-1,3,5-triazine (BFPT) with each of resorcinol (RS), 4,4′-dihydroxydiphenyl sulfone (DS), and bisphenol-like 4-(4-hydroxylphenyl)(2H)-phthalazin-1-one (HP). The presence of meta-ether linkages, sulfone groups or phthalazinone moieties in the polymer chain results in an improvement in the solubility of s-triazine-containing poly(aryl ether)s in common organic solvents (e.g., N,N′-dimethylacetamide, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone). The new polymers are amorphous and exhibit excellent thermal stability. The apparent activation energy values (E_a) as determined by using Kissinger method are respectively 268.1, 245.9 and 215.1 kJ/mol under N₂ flow in dynamic heating conditions, for the first degradation stage of RS-PE, DS-PE and HP-PE, which are in well agreement with those values (272.6, 249.9 and 239.1 kJ/mol) determined by using Flynn-Wall-Ozawa method. The thermal stability classification among the polymers is made on the basis of the E_a values, and it follows the decreasing order: RS-PE > DS-PE > HP-PE. The properties of these polymers have been also compared with those of corresponding poly(aryl ether)s.