Synthesis and properties of organic soluble semicrystalline poly(aryl ether ketone)s copolymers containing phthalazinone moieties

A series of poly(aryl ether ketone)s (PAEK) copolymers containing phthalazinone moieties were synthesized by modest polycondensation reaction from 4(4-hydroxyl-phenyl)-(2H)-phthalazin-1-one (DHPZ), hydroquinone (HQ), and 1,4-bis(4-fluorobenzoyl)benzene (BFBB). The T-g values of these copolymers ranged from 168 to 235 degrees C, and the crystalline melting temperatures varied from 285 to 352 degrees C. By introducing phthalazinone moieties into the main chain, the solubility of these copolymers was improved in some common polar organic solvents, such as chloroform (CHCl3), N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP), nitrobenzene (NB) and so on. The values of 5% weight loss temperatures were all higher than 510 degrees C in nitrogen. The crystal structures of these copolymers were determined by wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), which revealed that they were semicrystalline in nature, and the crystal structure of these copolymers was orthorhombic, equal to poly(ether ether ketone ketone)s. As phthalazinone content in the backbone varied from 0 to 40 mol % (mole percent), the cell parameters of these copolymers including the a, b, and c axes lengths ranged from 7.76 to 7.99 angstrom, 6.00 to 6.14 angstrom, and 10.10 to 10.19 angstrom, respectively. The degree of crystallinity (via differential scanning calorimetry) decreased from 37.70% to 16.14% simultaneously. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.