Synthesis and gas transport properties of random amide imide copolymers

Abstract

Fully imidized random amide imide copolymers (rPAI) can be prepared in an aprotic solvent from trimellitic anhydride chloride (TMAc) and mixtures of various aromatic diamines via condensation polymerization. The polymers are soluble in a number of aprotic organic solvents including 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP), N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc), N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). The gas transport properties of the rPAI materials are governed by the local structure around both the amide and imide linkages and can be tuned by the choice and ratio of diamines used. Significant improvement in selectivity relative to polyimides can be achieved. When inorganic carbonate salts are used to scavenge byproduct hydrogen chloride, the amount of residual salt in the dense films has a substantial effect on their gas transport properties. A fugitive salt process was identified, which eliminated this problem of residual inorganic salts. The activation energy for O2, N2, He, CO2, and CH4 permeability was determined for one of the copolymers. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 38: 1951–1965, 2000