Highly Thermal and Amorphous Polyarylates Produced by Introduction of Unsymmetrical Structures in the Main-Chain

Abstract

In order to develop a method for preparation of aromatic polyesters called polyarylates (PARs) with highly thermal resistance, transparent and noncrystalline propaties, and highly thermal fluidity, we examined the polymerization of bisphenol (A, B or C) and iso-and/or tere-phthaloyl chlorides using tetrabutylammonium bromide as a phase-transfer catalyst and benzoyl chloride as an end-capping reagent at room temperature. The obtained PARs were cast and subjected to the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), melt flow rate (MFR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. It was found that their solubilities, noncrystallinities, and T g were largely dependent on the structure (A, B or C) of the reactant bisphenol and the iso-and tere-ratio of incorporated phthaloyl groups; the noncrystallinity and high thermal fluidity were induced more effectively with reduced synmmetry of the bisphenol ester unit. The observed scattering intensity of the XRD reflection patterns of PARs revealed that the PARs were transparent and noncrystalline to the same extent as a commercially available transparent resin, PMMA. Thus, a transparent and noncrystalline PAR resin and its synthetic method are both in hand. KEY WORDS Aromatic Polyesters / Interfacial Polycondensation / End-Capping / Thermal Resistance / Noncrystalline / (