Thermotropic copolyesters prepared by solution polycondensation with TsCl/DMF/pyridine condensing agent

When mixtures of terephthalic acid (TPA) and 1,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid (NDC) or 4,4′-dicarboxydiphenylether (DCDPE), TPA, and isophthalic acid (IPA) were reacted in pyridine (Py) with Tosyl chloride (TsCl)/DMF/Py to activate the diacids, the reaction mixture was soluble in Py, despite each of the separately activated diacids being insoluble. The solubility of the activated diacids was examined at a variety of acid compositions and temperatures. It was expected that a competitive reaction among the diacids with an aromatic diol in solution might be different from those in the melt, resulting in a different distribution of the acids in the copolymers. The TPA/NDC-phenylhydroquinone and DCDPE/TPA/IPA-chlorohydroquinone copolymers were prepared in solution using TsCl/DMF/Py as the condensing agent and the transition temperatures of these liquid crystalline copolyesters were compared to those obtained by melt copolycondensation. A practical depression of the transition temperature by the solution polycondensation was observed.