Arylether Sulfone Oligomers with Acetylene Termination from the Ullman Ether Reaction

Acetylene terminated (AT) oligomeric arylether sulfones which upon curing possess higher molecular weight between crosslinks than earlier AT sulfones have been synthesized via a four step reaction sequence. The increase in chain length between reactive sites was obtained by synthesis of higher molecular weight diols using the nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction of 4,4'-dichlorodiphenyl sulfone with various diols, including resorcinol, hydroquinone, bisphenol A, 4,4'-dihydroxybiphenyl and 4,4'-thiodiphenol. The higher molecular weight diols were reacted with excess dibromobenzene through the Ullmann ether reaction to produce bromo endcapped arylether sulfones. The final stages of the sequence involve replacement of bromine with acetylene groups to get AT oligomers which were evaluated to determine Tg's before and after cure.