SYNTHESIS OF A NOVEL MACROCYCLIC ARYLENE ETHER SULFONE

The present work reports the synthesis of a macrocyclic arylene ether sulfone, 4, in two steps. In the first step dichlorodiphenyl sulfone ( 1) was substituted with two Bisphenol A (2) moieties by a nucleophilic substitution reaction using three solvents and reagent systems: (a) p otassium carbonate/dimethylacetamide, (b) sodium hydride/dimethylforma mide, or (c) aqueous caustic/dimethyl sulfoxide. The product 3 was cyc lized with dichlorodiphenyl sulfone to form 4 using the first and seco nd procedures. For economy and convenience, the first system is the me thod of choice for this synthesis. The products were characterized by elemental analysis, solubility, IR, NMR, GPC, MS, TGA (in air and nitr ogen atmospheres), and DSC.