Synthesis of fluorene‐based high performance polymers. I. Poly(arylene thioether)s with excellent solubility and high refractive index

Abstract

Abstract Several poly(arylene thioether)s ( PTEs ) containing a fluorene moiety were synthesized by the polycondensation of masked dithiols such as 9,9‐bis(4‐( N,N ‐dimethyl‐ S ‐carbamoyl)phenyl)fluorene and various difluoroarenes. All PTEs were obtained in quantitative yields. The PTEs showed good thermal stability: the 10% weight loss temperature was over 480 °C under both nitrogen and air atmosphere by TGA, and glass temperature was within a range of 204–275 °C by DSC. Most PTEs exhibited remarkably high refractive index values in a range of 1.66–1.72 at 589 nm, whereas they had a very low degree of birefringence properties. Furthermore, the PTEs showed high solubility in ordinary organic solvents such as chloroform, N ‐methylpyrrolidone, and tetrahydrofuran. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 3073–3082, 2007