Novel poly(quinone diimines) from anthraquinones
symmetrically disubstituted with
solubilizing ethyleneoxy or long chain alkoxy groups have been
synthesized and characterized. The
disubstituted anthraquinones
1,5-bis(2-methoxyethoxy)anthraquinone
(EO1AQ), 1,5-bis(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)anthraquinone (EO2AQ),
1,5-bis(2-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)anthraquinone
(EO2AQ), 1,5-bis(2-(2-2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)ethoxy)anthraquinone
(EO3AQ), 1,5-bis(octyloxy)anthraquinone
(15OOAQ),
2,6-bis(octyloxy)anthraquinone (26OOAQ), and
1,4-bis(octyloxy)anthraquinone (14OOAQ) were
synthesized
and condensed with aniline in the presence of titanium tetrachloride
and 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane
to give
N,N‘-diphenyl-1,5-bis(2-methoxyethoxy)
n
anthraquinone
9,10-diimine (DEO
n
AQ, n =
1−3), N,N-diphenyl-1,5-bis(octyloxy)anthraquinone 9,10-diimine
(15DOOAQ), and
N,N‘-diphenyl-2,6-bis(octyloxy)anthraquinone 9,10-diimine (26DOOAQ), respectively, as model
compounds for the polymers. The relative
stereochemistry of these diimines was determined by 1H NMR
spectroscopy. Polycondensation of the
disubstituted anthraquinones with 4,4‘-thiodianiline (SDA) gave high
molecular weight (M
w 30 000)
poly(anthraquinone diimines) and large macrocycles. Polycondensation of
1,4-phenylenediamine (PDA) with
EO2AQ gave high molecular weight
(M
w 14 000) polyaromatic anthraquinone
diimines. PDA gave
molecular weights of M
w 5000−23 000 for the
bis(octyloxy)-substituted anthraquinones. The
molecular
weights of polymerizations incorporating PDA are lowered due to steric
interactions of successive repeat
units and solubility constraints.