Novel chiral and organosoluble nanostructure poly(ester–imide)s containing N,N′-(3,3′,4,4′-benzophenonetetracarboxylic)-3,3′,4,4′-diimido-bis-(L-tyrosine methyl ester) as a new amino acid based diol: production, morphology, and thermal properties

A new class of chiral and potentially biodegradable poly(ester–imide)s containing natural amino acids in the main chain was synthesized. In this investigation, N,N′-(3,3′,4,4′-benzophenonetetracarboxylic)-3,3′,4,4′-diimido-bis-(L-tyrosine methyl ester) as a novel diol and synthesized pyromellitic dianhydride-derived diacid chlorides containing different natural amino acids were used for polyesterification. The resulting new polymers were obtained in good yields with inherent viscosities ranging between 0.30 and 0.35 dL/g and are soluble in polar aprotic solvents. Morphology probes showed these tyrosine-containing pseudo-poly(amino acid)s were noncrystalline and nanostructure polymers. On the basis of thermogravimetric analysis data, such polymers are heat stable and can be classified as self-extinguishing polymers.