HETEROAROMATIC POLYMERS—HIGH TEMPERATURE POLYPYRROLONES DERIVED FROM 2,6-BIS(3',4'-DIAMINOPHENYL)-4-BIPHENYLPYRIDINE AND VARIOUS AROMATIC DIANHYDRIDES

A new type of aromatic tetraarnine containing biphenyl moiety in the side chain was synthesized via a modified Chichibabin＇s reaction. 3-Nitro-4-acetamidoacetophenone was reacted with 4-phenyl benzaldehyde in the presence of ammonium acetate to obtain 2,6-bis（3＇,4＇-diaminophenyl）-4-biphenyl pyridine （DPPA）. A series of polypyrrolones （PPys） were prepared using tetraamine and various aromatic dianhydrides via a two-step cyclization procedure. All the PPys show excellent high temperature stabilities with the initial decomposition temperatures of 530-549℃ and residual weight ratio of 49%-80% at 750℃ in nitrogen. The polymers exhibit no apparent glass transition temperatures （Tgs） except PPy-1 （Tg= 327℃）, which is derived from tetraamine DPPA and 2,2-bis[4-（3＇,4＇-dicarboxyphenoxy）-phenyl]propane dianhydride （BPADA）. In addition, the polymers have acceptable mechanical properties with the tensile strength of 65-94 MPa. The PPy films show excellent hydrolysis-resistance in alkaline aqueous medium and could maintain most of the properties even after boiling in 10% aqueous sodium hydroxide solution for a week.

Highly Hydrolysis-Resistant Polyimide Fibers Prepared by Thermal Crosslinking with Inherent Carboxyl Groups

Easy hydrolysis in alkaline environments limits the use of polyimide fibers in environmental protection. The hydrolysis resistance levels of polyimide fibers can be improved by crosslinking of the macromolecular chains. In this work, crosslinked polyimide fibers(CPI fibers) were produced by intrinsic carboxyl decarboxylation for the first time. The thermal stability of the polyimide fibers containing the intrinsic carboxyl groups(PIC fibers) was studied, and the temperature of the decarboxylation-crosslinking reaction was determined to be 450 ℃. The PIC fibers were hotdrawn to initiate thermal crosslinking of the carboxyl groups and molecular chain orientation at high temperature. The CPI fibers had high tensile strengths(0.72-1.46 GPa) and compressive strengths(401-604 MPa). The oriented macromolecules and chemically crosslinked structure improved the tightness of the molecular chains and endowed the CPI fibers with excellent hydrolytic resistance. The CPI-50 fiber did not dissolve in a 0.5 wt% NaOH solution during heating at 90 ℃ for 10 h, and the tensile strength retention reached 87% when treated in 0.5 wt% NaOH solutions at 90 ℃ for 1 h, providing a guarantee for its application in alkaline corrosive environments.