Thermally stable silarylene-1,3,4-oxadiazole polymers

The effects of incorporating a p-phenylene- (or m-phenylene)-1,3,4-oxadiazole fragment into the backbone of poly[1,4-phenylene(diphenylsilyl)-1,4-phenylene-2,5-(1,3,4-oxadiazole)], which was developed by the authors, was investigated. Bis[(p-carbohydrazidophenyl)]diphenylsilane was copolymerized with dipentachlorophenyl terephthalate or isophthalate to produce the prepolymers poly[N-(p-diphenylsilylbenzoyl)-N′N″-(terephthaloyl)-N″′-(p-benzoyl)dihydrazide] and poly[N-(p-diphenylsilylbenzoyl)-N′,-N″-(isophthaloyl)-N″′-p-(benzoyl) dihydrazide], respectively. The polyhydrazides were converted by thermal dehydration into poly[1,4-phenylene(diphenylsilyl)-1,4-phenylene-(1,3,4-oxadiazole-2,5-diyl)-1,4-phenylene-2,5-(1,3,4-oxadiazole)] and poly[1,4-phenyl-ene(diphenylsilyl)-1,4-phenylene-(1,3,4-oxadiazole-2,5-diyl)-1,3,4-(oxadiazole)]. The new polymers were soluble in organic solvents. Films cast from these solutions exhibited good adhesion to glass and metal surfaces. Thermal analysis showed that the heat stability of all these polymers was about the same and that they were resistant to decomposition when heated in air to about 400°C. The results also indicated that these polymers were somewhat less heat-resistant than samples of poly-[1,4-phenylene(diphenylsilyl)-1,4-phenylene-2,5-]1,3,4-(oxadiazole) synthesized from bis(p-carbohydrazidophenyl)diphenylsilane and bis-(p-carbopentachlorophenoxy-phenyl)diphenylsilane.