New poly(arylene ether sulfone)s based on 4,4′-[trans-1,4-cyclohexanediylbis(methylene)] bisphenol

Incorporation of 4,4′-dihydroxy-p-terphenyl (DHTP) and a new bisphenol comonomer, 4,4′-[trans-1,4-cyclohexanediylbis(methylene)] bisphenol (CMB), into a dichlorodiphenyl sulfone (DCDPS) based poly(ether sulfone) resulted in a synergistic effect with an order of magnitude increase observed in the strain at break when compared to the structural analogs. Polysulfones with the CMB monomer and other bisphenol comonomers such as 4,4′-dihydroxy-p-biphenyl (DHBP) and bisphenol-A (BisA) were also synthesized and characterized for comparison and this enhancement was not seen in these polymers. The cyclohexylene containing monomer and polymers were analyzed by 1d 1H NMR and 2d H–H correlation spectroscopy (COSY) confirming that the cyclohexylene units in all the polymers were in the trans-configuration. DMA results suggested that the significant strain at failure enhancement was related to the strong intensity in both the β and γ-relaxations of the polysulfone containing CMB and DHTP monomers.