Synthesis and characterization of new soluble and thermally stable poly(ester-imide)s derived from N-[3,5-bis(N-trimellitoyl)phenyl]phthalimide and various bisphenols

A new dicarboxylic acid chloride (2) bearing three preformed imide rings was synthesized by treating N-(3,5-diaminophenyl)phthalimide with trimellitic anhydride followed by refluxing with thionyl chloride. A novel family of aromatic poly(ester-imide)s with inherent viscosities of 0.27-0.35 dl g⁻¹ were prepared from 2 with various bisphenols such as resorcinol (3a), hydroquinone (3b), 2,2′-dihydroxybiphenyl (3c), 4,4′-dihydroxybiphenyl (3d), bisphenol-A (3e), 2,2′-dimethyl-4,4′-dihydroxybiphenyl (3f), 1,5-dihydroxynaphthalene (3g), 2,7-dihydroxynaphthalene (3h), and 2,2′-dihydroxy-1,1′-binaphthyl (3i) by high-temperature solution polycondensation in nitrobenzene using pyridine as hydrogen chloride quencher. All of the resulted polymers were fully characterized by FT-IR and NMR spectroscopy and elemental analyses. The poly(ester-imide)s exhibited excellent solubility in some polar organic solvents. From differential scanning calorimetry, the polymers showed glass-transition temperatures between 259 and 353 °C. Thermal behaviors of the obtained polymers were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis and the 10% weight loss temperatures of the poly(ester-imide)s were found to be in the range between 451 and 482 °C in nitrogen. Furthermore, crystallinity of the polymers was estimated by means of wide-angle X-ray diffraction.