SYNTHESIS OF BULKY BIS(ETHER ANHYDRIDE)S AND POLY(ETHER IMIDE)S WITH BULKY MAIN-CHAIN UNITS

A series of bis(ether anhydride)s has been synthesized from very bulky bisphenols. Poly(ether imide)s have been synthesized from these bis(e ther anhydride)s and two diamines in order to provide a series of poly (ether imide)s with bulky main-chain units. The polymers have been cha racterized in terms of molecular weight, solubility, glass-transition temperature and thermal stability in order to identify a series of hig h-performance polymers which are processable and potentially useful fo r applications which require soluble poly(ether imide)s for fabricatio n into, for example, gas separation membranes.