Organosoluble and colorless fluorinated poly(ether imide)s derived from a highly contorted biphenyl-2,2′-diol bis(ether anhydride) and aromatic bis(ether amine)s with trifluoromethyl substituents.

A series of new fluorinated aromatic poly(ether imide)s (PEIs) were prepared from highly contorted 2,2′-bis(3,4-dicarboxyphenoxy)biphenyl dianhydride and various trifluoromethyl-containing bis(ether amine)s via chemical or thermal imidization. All the PEIs showed good solubility in a variety of organic solvents and could afford flexible, colorless, and transparent thin films via solution-casting. They showed cut-off wavelengths of Uv-vis absorptions below 380 nm and very low yellowness index ( b* < 7.0). They also showed high thermal stability with the 10% weight loss temperature from 503 to 585 °C of in nitrogen or air atmosphere. The glass transition temperatures ( T s) are recorded in the range of 194-254 °C by DSC. For a comparative study, another series of non-fluorinated PEIs derived from the same biphenyl-2,2′-diol bis(ether anhydride) with various bis(ether amine)s without the trifluoromethyl substituents were also synthesized and characterized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]