Eight novel polyurethanes based on 2,2′‐[1,4‐phenylenebis(nitrilomethylylidene)]diphenol and 2,2′‐[4,4′‐methylene‐di‐2‐methylphenylene‐1,1′‐bis(nitrilomethylylidene)]diphenol acting as hard segments with two aromatic and two aliphatic diisocyanates (4,4′‐diphenylmethane diisocyanate, toluene 2,4‐diisocyanate, isophorone diisocyanate, and hexamethylene diisocyanate) were prepared and characterized with Fourier transform infrared, UV spectrophotometry, fluorescence spectroscopy, 1H‐NMR and 13C‐NMR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential thermal analysis. All the polyurethanes contained domains of semicrystalline and amorphous structures, as indicated by X‐ray diffraction. The acoustic properties and solubility parameters were calculated with the group contribution method. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007