Imperial Chemical Industries Limited

Dennis Arthur Barr

John B Rose

Aromatic polymers containing benzenoid groups and oxygen atoms in the polymer chains are made by the action of an alkali metal hydroxide on a dihalogenobenzenoid compound in which each halogen atom is activated by an inert electron-attracting group such as --SO.sub.2 --. When a bis-(4-halogenophenyl) sulphone is reacted with an alkali metal hydroxide, the alkali metal salt of a 4-(4-halogenophenylsulphonyl)phenol is formed as a readily isolated intermediate which polymerizes in the presence or absence of solvent to give a polymer having repeating units of the structure ##STR1##

Production of polyarylene ether sulphones and ketones

Aromatic polymers containing benzenoid groups and oxygen atoms in the polymer chains are made by the action of an alkali metal hydroxide on a dihalogeno-benzenoid compound in which each halogen atom is activated by an inert electron-attracting group such as --SO.sub.2 --. When a bis-(4-halogenophenyl) sulphone is reacted with an alkali metal hydroxide, the alkali metal salt of a 4-(4-halogenophenylsulphonyl)phenol is formed as a readily isolated intermediate which polymerizes in the presence or absence of solvent to give a polymer having repeating units of the structure ##STR1##

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Welwyn, United Kingdom

Dennis Arthur Barr