Poly(aryl ether amide)s

A general method for the preparation of poly(aryl ether amide)s has been developed where the generation of an aryl ether linkage is the polymer‐forming reaction. The amide linkage was found to be sufficiently electron‐withdrawing to activate halo‐substituents towards nucleophilic aromatic substitution analogous to conventional activating groups (i.e., sulfone, ketone, etc.). Model reactions demonstrated that the amide‐activated displacement occurred with high selectivity in near quantitative yield and was judged suitable as a polymer‐forming reaction. Appropriately fluoro‐substituted amides were prepared and subjected to displacement polymerization with bisphenoxides in a N‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidone (NMP)/N‐cyclohexyl‐2‐pyrrolidone (CHP) solvent mixture. High molecular weight polymers with glass transition temperatures in the 200–225°C range were obtained. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.