Configurational properties of aromatic polyesters with sulfur atoms in their structure

Abstract

The dipole moments of poly (thiodiethylene glycol terephthalate) chains were determined as a function of temperature by means of dielectric constant measurements in dioxane. The experimental results were found to be in fair agreement with theoretical results based on a rotational isomeric state model in which the required conformational energies were obtained from previous configurational analysis on poly(ethylene terephthalate), poly(diethylene glycol terephthalate) and poly(thiodiethylene glycol). Since poly(thiodiethylene glycol terephthalate) can be considered an alternating copolymer of ethylene terephthalate and thioethylene units, its configuration-dependent properties were compared with those of poly(ethylene terephthalate) and poly(ethylene sulfide). It was found the flexibility of the copolymer, as expressed by the partition function, intermediate to that of its parent homopolymers. The theoretical results also indicate that the dimensions of poly(thiodiethylene glycol) are similar to those of poly(ethylene terephthalate) while its dipole moment ratio resembles that of poly(ethylene sulfide).