Synthesis and characterization of low-birefringent crosslinkable fluorinated poly(arylene ether sulfide)s containing pendant phenyl moiety

Fluorinated poly(arylene ether sulfide) (FPAESI) and ethynyl-terminated fluorinated poly(arylene ether sulfide) (E-FPAESI) were synthesized via step-growth polymerization from prepared dihydroxy monomer and pentafluorophenylsulfide, then E-FPAESI was followed by a reaction with 3-ethynylphenol. The number-average molecular weights and polydispersities of FPAESI and E-FPAESI were in the range of 12,000–26,000 and 1.75–3.18, respectively. The glass transition temperatures of the polymers varied from 138 to 178 °C depending on the molecular weight of the polymer used and were changed to the range of 191–245 °C after curing. The FPAESIs and E-FPAESIs exhibited high thermal stability up to 445–450 °C and 457–462 °C, respectively. The refractive index and birefringence of spin-coated polymer films were determined by the prism-coupling method. The refractive indices and birefringences of the films were in the range of 1.5849–1.5880 and 0.0014–0.0035 at a 1550 nm wavelength, respectively. The effect of E-FPAESI structure on the birefringence is compared with various reported poly(arylene ether sulfide)s.