Thermal stability,solubility, and fluorescence property of poly(arylene ether ketone)s bearing <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-arylenebenzimidazole units

A series of novel random poly(arylene ether ketone)s containing N-arylenebenzimidazolyl groups with precise structures in high yields were synthesized from 2-(2′-hydroxyphenyl) benzimidazole and 4,4′-dihydroxybenzophenone with 4,4′-difluorobenzophenone via nucleophilic substitution polycondensation reaction using sulfolane as a solvent. The reaction was carried out at 210 °C in the presence of anhydrous potassium carbonate. The structures of the resulted polymers were characterized by means of FT-IR, ¹H NMR spectroscopy, and elemental analysis, and the results were largely consistent with the proposed structure. X-ray diffraction studies revealed that the incorporation of N-arylenebenzimidazolyl groups decreased the crystallinity of the resulted polymers. As the benzimidazole unit content in the copolymer increased, the solubility and thermal behavior of the prepared polymers improved. The novel poly(arylene ether ketone)s exhibited glass transition temperatures (T _gs) in the range 188–237°C, and there was a good linearity relationship between T _g values and the content of benzimidazolyl groups. The 5% decomposition temperatures were within the range of 512–539 °C in nitrogen and 496–540 °C in air indicating their good thermal stability. Tensile tests of the films showed that these polymers have desirable mechanical properties. Moreover, the resulting polymers showed good fluorescence properties.