Synthesis of High Refractive Index Poly(thioether sulfone)s with High Abbe's Number Derived from 2,5-Bis(sulfanylmethyl)-1,4-dithiane

Two kinds of new thermoplastic poly(thioether sulfone)s (PESs) with high refractive indices and high Abbe's numbers have been developed by the simultaneous introduction of sulfide, sulfone, and alicyclic units in the polymer chains. The PESs with high molecular weights were prepared by Michael polyaddition of 2,5-bis(sulfanylmethyl)-1,4-dithiane (BMMD) with divinyl sulfone (DVS) or bis(vinylsulfonyl) methane (BVSM). Tough, flexible, and transparent amorphous PES (poly(BMMD-DVS)) film was obtained, and showed good thermal stability with the 5% weight-loss temperature of 303 degrees C in nitrogen, the glass transition temperature of 47 degrees C, and the melting point of 174 degrees C. Poly(BMMD-DVS) and poly(BMMD-BVSM) exhibited the highest level of the refractive. indices of 1.6512 and 1.6461, and the Abbe's numbers of 42.6 and 43.1 as thermoplastics.