A novel pentamethylated norbornadiene (NBD) based dianhydride, α,α′‐bis‐(3,4,5,6,7‐pentamethylcyclopenta‐2,4‐dienyl)meta‐xylene‐1,2‐dianhydride (3), was prepared from α,α′‐bis‐(pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)meta‐xylene (1) and acetylene dicarboxylic acid. The bis‐adduct formed via Diels–Alder reaction afforded tetra‐acid (2), which was chemically cyclodehydrated to lead the targeted dianhydride (3). New polyimides containing NBD moieties in the main chain were prepared from the dianhydride monomer (3) and various aromatic diamines. The chemical structure of the polymers was confirmed by both 1H and 13C NMR analysis. Their Molecular weights were also measured by SEC. All of these polyimides are soluble at room temperature in common organic solvents, such as chloroform, dichloromethane, THF, DMSO, DMF, and NMP, and show good thermal stabilities. The photochemical isomerization of the NBD into quadricyclane (QC) was investigated by UV/vis spectrophotometry from polymer films using visible sunlight as irradiation source. It was found that the kinetic rate of the conversion NBD‐QC which proceeded smoothly is a first kinetic order. The stored energies released by the transformation of QC groups into NBD ones of the irradiated polymer films were also evaluated by DSC measurement and were found to be around 90 kJ mol−1. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011

Me ´moire/Full paper Synthe `se et proprie ´te ´s photochimiques de mode `les imides et amides contenant des structures norbornadie `nes pentame ´thyle ´s Synthesis and photochemical properties of imide and amide models containing pentamethylated norbornadiene residues Ahmed Oueslati a , Hatem Ben Romdhane b, *, Re ´gis Mercier c , Refaa ˆt M. Chaa ˆbouni a a Unite´de recherche synthe`se et analyse de mate´riaux, de´partement de ge´nie industriel, E ´cole nationale d'inge´nieurs de Tunis, BP 37, 1002 Le Belve´de`re-Tunis, Tunisie b Laboratoire de chimie organique structurale, synthe`se et e´tudes physicochimiques, faculte´des sciences de Tunis, campus universitaire, 2092

Photoresponsive polyamides containing main‐chain pentamethylated norbornadiene (NBD) moieties are obtained in quantitative yields via the Yamazaki–Higashi reaction between a pentamethylated NBD dicarboxylic acid and a series of aromatic diamines. Chemical structures are confirmed by 1H and 13C NMR and weight average molar masses measured by SEC are in the range of 21,500–28,600 g mol−1 with chain dispersities close to 2. Physical properties are investigated by FTIR, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis, and viscosimetry. All obtained polyamides are amorphous with glass transition temperatures ranging from 68 to 124 °C. They are soluble at room temperature in common organic solvents and exhibit good thermal stabilities with Td10 values ranging from 175 to 276 °C. The photochemical isomerization of the NBD moiety into quadricyclane (QC) is studied by UV/vis spectroscopy after sunlight irradiation of polymer films. For all polyamides, a first‐order kinetic rate is observed for the conversion of NBD to QC. The thermal release of the stored energy associated to the reverse transformation of QC groups into NBD ones is about 90–95 kJ mol−1 as measured by DSC of the irradiated polymer films. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013, 51, 4650–4656