Transparent and highly organosoluble aromatic polyimides with twisted backbone and bulky side substituents for flexible substrate materials

Abstract In this study, four novel aromatic polyimides (PIs) with twisted backbone and bulky side substituents were prepared via chemical imidization reaction and two‐step condensation polymerization at reduced reaction temperature. The number‐average and weight‐average molecular weights of the resulting PIs are in the range of 1.98 × 10 4 –4.10 × 10 4 and 2.66 × 10 4 –5.32 × 10 4 g mol −1 , respectively, while maintaining polydispersity indices consistently below 2.0. In addition, the obtained PIs showed excellent solubility in most common solvents, even in low‐boiling solvents, such as chloroform, dichloromethane, and tetrahydrofuran. The films casted from these PIs also displayed optical transparency with a cutoff wavelength in the range of 335–360 nm. Among the PIs, PAPOT‐OPDA, derived from 3,3′‐Diisopropyl‐4,4′‐diaminodiphenyl‐3″‐phenoxybenzylmethane (PAPOT) and 3,3′,4,4′‐diphenylethertetracarboxylic dianhydride (OPDA), exhibited the highest transparency of T 450 = 81% and T 500 = 85%, and the best solubility without compromising its thermal properties.