The Synthesis Of Low Molecular Weight Polyphenylene Ether

Poly(phenylene oxide) with a low molecular weight suitable for matrix resin in high performance copper clad laminate was synthesized by oxidative coupling of 2,6-dimethylphenol. In this article, these factors including the temperature of synthesize catalyst, the monomer concentration, the temperature and the time of oxidative coupling, the catalyst concentration, the molar proportion of copper and amine in the catalyst system and so on that affect molecular weight of Poly(phenylene oxide) were studied and the mechanism of oxidative coupling were researched. The optimum parameters of oxidative coupling were obtained as follows: The temperature of synthesize catalyst was 20°C.With strongly stirred, added 0.0010mol CuCl and 0.03075mol diethylamine in 50ml toluene and the molar proportion of copper and amine in the catalyst system was 35.Then add 20ml 2,6-dimethylphenol solution. The reaction temperature was 18 °C . All reactions were under 100% dioxygen at atmospheric pressure. When the reaction accomplished,added methanol to the mixture, and then got some precipitation. Washing the precipitation with chloroform and then redeposit with methanol. After dry the precipitation for some hours, obtained the poly(phenylene oxide). The low molecular weight poly(phenylene oxide) was obtained by using this process, with Intrinsic viscosity [ η ] 0.213dl/g, Glass transition temperature 195.58°C.