Preparation and thermal properties of enaminonitriles-terminated reactive polymer precursors

Various enaminonitriles-terminated reactive polymer precursors containing rigid aromatic and flexible alkyl units were prepared from the corresponding diamines and 1-chloro-1-phenyl-2,2-dicyanoethene (1). All the enaminonitriles-terminates precursors were characterized by spectroscopies and elemental analysis. They were highly soluble in DMF and NMP, and partially soluble in common organic solvents such as THF and acetone. They showed a large exotherm around 350.deg.C attributable to the thermal polymerization by crosslinking of the dicyanovinyl group. Upon heating the precursors, heat-resistant and insoluble network polymers were obtained. Thermogravimetric analyses of the precursors containing rigid aromatic moiety exhibited thermal stability with a 10% weight loss around 420-480 .deg.C and 75-88% residual weight at 500.deg.C under nitrogen