Synthesis and structure–property relationships of novel thiazole‐containing poly(amide imide)s with high refractive indices and low birefringences

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the structure–property relationships in high‐performance polymers with high refractive indices and low birefringences. A series of novel poly(amide imide)s ( PAIs ) were synthesized from a thiazole‐containing diimide–diacid monomer and various aromatic diamines. The influence of the pendant phenyl substituents on the optical properties of these PAIs was studied by comparison with the analogous polymers containing methyl groups. The PAIs exhibited excellent solubility and good thermal stability. The optical transmittances of the PAI films at 450 nm were higher than 75%. The combination of the thiazole units, thioether linkages and pendant phenyl rings provided the PAIs with high average refractive indices of 1.7361–1.7536 and low birefringences of 0.0066–0.0097 at 632.8 nm.