Functional polymers and sequential copolymers by phase transfer catalysis, 2. Synthesis and characterization of aromatic poly(ether‐sulfone)s containing vinylbenzyl and ethynylbenzyl chain ends

A simple method for the synthesis of α,ω‐bis(vinylbenzyl) aromatic poly(ether‐sulfone)s (2) and their transformation into α,ω‐bis(ethynylbenzyl) aromatic poly(ether‐sulfone)s (4) is presented. This method involves a fast and quantitative Williamson etherification of the α,ω‐bis(hydroxyphenyl)polysulfone with a mixture of p‐ and m‐chloromethylstyrenes in the presence of tetrabutylammonium hydrogen sulfate as phase transfer catalyst, a subsequent bromination, and then a dehydrobromination with potassium tert‐butoxide. The DSC study of the thermal curing of these α,ω‐bis(vinylbenzyl)polysulfones and α,ω‐bis(ethynylbenzyl)polysulfones demonstrates high thermal reactivity for this new class of styrene‐terminated oligomers.