ABSTRACT:Poly(arylene sulfone)s (PASs) were synthesized in quantitative yields by the oxidations of the corresponding fluorene-containing poly(arylene thioether)s, derived from 9,9-diarylfluorene-based dithiols and dihaloarenes, with 30% hydrogen peroxide in formic acid. PASs had good solubility in common organic solvents such as chloroform, N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP), and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). Highly transparent films were obtained by casting the chloroform solutions of PASs. PASs exhibited high glass transition and high decomposition temperatures (T g 248-355C, T d5 > 400 C under nitrogen). [doi:10.1295/polymj.PJ2006211] KEY WORDS Poly(arylene thioether) / Poly(arylene sulfone) / 9,9-Diarylfluorene / Thermal Stability / Solubility / Increasing interest has been devoted to the syntheses of high performance polymers with special property including poly(arylene sulfone)s as amorphous engineering thermoplastics. Poly(arylene sulfone)s possess excellent properties such as mechanical strength, hydrolytic stability, low flammability, and oxidative stability, making them wildely useful in various applications.1 For example, they could be the basic materials for porous and dense polymeric membranes required for gas separation or fuel cell application.2 Some polysulfones are commercially available as high performance engineering plastics such as UDEL Ò , VICTREX Ò , RADEL Ò , and so on. Aromatic polysulfones are often synthesized by direct polymerization via aromatic nucleoplilic substitution of the corresponding bis(fluoroaryl)sulfones and bisphenols as monomers.3 Ueda et al. 4 have reported the synthesis of aromatic poly(ether sulfone)s from nickel complex-mediated aromatic coupling polymerization of aromatic dichloride. An alternative way of making poly(arylene sulfone)s involves oxidation of poly(arylene thioether)s with hydrogen peroxide in formic acid. 5,6 By the replacement of thioether function with sulfone function in polymer main chain, it is expected that sulfone polymer shows, e.g., glass transition temperature (T g ) higher than the corresponding thioether polymer. Meanwhile, polymers containing 9,9-diarylfluorene moieties in the main chain have collected much interest because of their excellent properties such as high solubility and good optical properties based on the cardo structure of the 9,9-diarylfluorene moiety.7 Since polysulfones are usually hard to be soluble in ordinary organic solvents, the introduction of the fluorene skeleton seems to improve the solubility of polysulfones in addition to endowment of good optical property. We have recently prepared 9,9-diarylfluorene-based poly(arylene thioether)s with excellent physical and optical properties.8 As far as we know, no data has been reported by using of poly(arylene thioether)s containing 9,9-diarylfluorene to obtained poly(arylene sulfone)s. Therefore, we have undertaken the synthesis of poly-(arylene sulfone)s by the oxidation of the poly(arylene thioether)s, judging from the ease of procedure. This report describes the synthesis and cha...