One-pot high-temperature synthesis of polyimides in molten benzoic acid: Kinetics of reactions modeling stages of polycondensation and cyclization

Abstract

For aromatic and aliphatic diamines of significantly different basicities, the kinetics of acylation with phthalic anhydride in glacial acetic acid in the range 16–70°C and of imidization of corresponding bis(o-carboxyamides) in acetic acid at 140°C has been studied. The reactions under study model the stages of polycondensation and intramolecular cyclization, respectively, in the high-temperature catalytic synthesis of polyimides in molten benzoic acid. It has been established that the acylation of amino groups in acetic acid proceeds as a reversible reaction and is catalyzed by the acidic medium. The kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the above-mentioned model reactions have been determined, and the effect of the chemical structure of diamines on these parameters has been assessed. On the basis of the experimental data obtained for the model reactions, it is inferred that, in the synthesis of polyimides in benzoic acid, the overall rate of the process is determined by the rate of the intramolecular cyclization. A low sensitivity of the cyclization reaction to a change in the structure of the starting diamines explains why high-molecular-mass polyimides can be prepared at comparable rates under these conditions from both high-and low-basicity diamines.