Synthesis of perfectly alternating and statistical meta-linked fluorinated poly(arylene ether) copolymers containing octafluorobiphenylene and trifluoromethyl units

Abstract

The strategy to the synthesis of the statistical and alternating fluorinated poly(arylene ether) (FPAE) copolymers with the same composition containing octafluorobiphenylene and trifluoromethyl units as well as meta-oxyphenylene fragments was proposed. The structures of the synthesised polymers were determined by Fourier transform infrared, 1H NMR, and 19F NMR spectroscopy techniques. The polymer’s characteristics including molecularweight, tensile strength, thermal stability, and dielectric characteristic were studied depending on the sequence distribution of co-monomers along the polymer chain. Despite the same overall composition, the statistical copolymer showed higher molecular weight and better mechanical properties whereas the alternating FPAE copolymer demonstrated better thermal stability as well as lower dielectric constant and loss factor.