Aromatic polyimides have become one of the well-established high performance polymers having excellent thermal stability and mechanical properties, good chemical resistance, high dimensional stability, and low dielectric constants. However, one of the drawbacks to the employment of these high performance polymers is the difficulty in processing due to their high processing temperature and limited solubility, which are caused by their rigid polymer backbones and strong interchain interactions. To overcome these problems, we introduced unsymmetrically two bulky trifluoromethyl groups on a diamine monomer to reduce the interchain interaction as well as dielectric constants, water absorption, and refractive indices of the polymers.In this study, a new diamine monomer, 2,6-bis(trifluoromethyl)-4,4'-diaminodiphenyl ether, containing two trifluoromethyl groups was synthesized, and used to prepare highly fluorinated soluble polyimides with 4,4'-(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphthalic anhydride (6FDA) via a one-pot process (solution imidization). The details of the synthesis and properties of the polyimide will be presented.

Highly fluorinated soluble polyimide

244th National Meeting (2012)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.