Synthesis of thianthrene‐5,5,10,10‐tetraoxide‐containing polyimides via Yamazaki–Higashi phosphorylation method and their pervaporation properties to aromatic/nonaromatic hydrocarbon mixtures

High molecular weight polyimide was successfully prepared from thianthrene‐2,3,7,8‐tetracarboxylic acid‐5,5,10,10‐tetraoxide (TADATO‐4A) and 3,7‐diamino‐2,8(6)‐dimethyldibenzothiophene sulfone (DDBT) via the Yamazaki–Higashi phosphorylation method in the presence of triphenyl phosphite (TPP) and pyridine (Py). The obtained polyimide showed about 3–4 times larger inherent viscosity than that prepared by the conventional two‐step method in which the anhydride form (TADATO) of TADATO‐4A was used. The combination of the conventional two‐step method and Yamazaki–Higashi phosphorylation method, in which a dianhydride monomer [3,3′,4,4′‐diphenylsulfonetetracarboxylic dianhydride (DSDA)] was allowed to react with excessive DDBT to form an amine end‐capped polyamic acid oligomer and subsequently the oligomer was further polymerized with TADATO‐4A in the presence of TPP and Py, succeeded in giving the high molecular weight copolyimide, TADATO/DSDA(1/1)‐DDBT. However, both TADATO‐DDBT and TADATO/DSDA(1/1)‐DDBT showed fairly poor thermal stability due to the highly rigid structures. The pervaporation (PV) properties of the prepared polyimide membranes for benzene/cyclohexane (Bz/Cx) and benzene/n‐hexane (Bz/n‐Hx) mixtures were investigated. TADATO‐DDBT showed similar PV performance to DSDA‐DDBT at 60 °C. The sorption measurement revealed that these two kinds of polyimide membranes had a similar sorption amount, solubility selectivity, and diffusivity selectivity. The PV performance of TADATO/DSDA(1/1)‐DDBT was also found similar to DSDA‐DDBT for Bz/Cx mixture. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 38: 895–906, 2000