Thermal properties and solubility of ordered aromatic polyamides containing a methyl‐substituted phenylene linkage

Ordered aromatic polyamides and copolyamides were prepared by the polycondensation of terephthaloyl and isophthaloyl dichlorides with symmetrical diamines containing preformed amide linkages derived from unsymmetrical methyl—substituted aromatic diamines at low temperature. Thermal properties and solubilities of the ordered polyamides were compared with those of the corresponding random polyamides. There was little difference between thermal stabilities of the ordered polyamide and the corresponding random one, while the former was less soluble in organic solvents than the latter, depending on the extent of hydrogen bonding of the amide groups. The thermal stability of the alternating copolyamides containing both terephthaloyl and isophthaloyl groups as acid components was less than that of the corresponding homopolymers having either a terephthaloyl or an isophthaloyl group, and the solubility of the former resembled that of the corresponding ordered homopolysiophthalamides in accord with the extent of hydrogen bonding of the amide groups in both polymers.