Synthesis of high molecular weight polyimide consisting hexafluoroisopropylidene moiety for gas separation

N.A. Mokri; P.C. Oh; H.  Mukhtar; T.L. Chew

doi:10.15282/jmes.11.4.2017.17.0283

Authors

N.A. Mokri Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Malaysia
P.C. Oh Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Malaysia
H. Mukhtar Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Malaysia
T.L. Chew Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15282/jmes.11.4.2017.17.0283

Keywords:

Fluorinated polyimide; chemical imidization; hexafluoroisopropylidene; gas separation.

Abstract

In this work, high molecular weight of heterocyclic aromatic polyimide consisting hexafluoroisopropylidene moiety in both diamine and dianhydride fragments was synthesised. The synthesis was performed via a two-step polycondensation route, which involved polyamic acid formation and chemical imidization. Subsequently, physical purification technique was conducted by microfiltration and re-crystallisation to obtain oligomers-free high molecular weight polymer. Selections of high purity and suitable solvent, type of amine catalyst, precipitation medium and reaction temperature were considered to favour the formation of high molecular weight polyimide. The synthesised polyimide was characterised by ATR-FTIR, which confirmed the presence of significant imide bands denoting the formation of imide linkage. Further confirmation of polyimide molecular structure was accomplished using ¹³C and ¹H NMR. It was found that polyimide with high molecular weight (4500 KDa) was obtained with a polydispersity index of 1.48. Therefore, this polymer has favourable properties for gas separation membrane application.

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