Direct polycondensation in ionic liquids

Ionic liquids (ILs) are subject to an enormous research effort due to their unique properties, such as non-volatility, high solution and reactivity ability, etc. For the first time ILs have been used as a solvent for preparing polymers via direct polycondensation. The influence of IL's nature and reaction parameters upon the polymer formulation has been investigated. It is shown that direct polycondensation is successfully proceeded in ILs and triphenyl phosphite (condensing agent) without any additional extra components, such as LiCl and pyridine, using in similar reactions in ordinary molecular solvents. Various polyamides (eta(inh) = 0.11-1.10 dl/g), polyamide imides (eta(inh) = 0.48-1.41 dl/g), -hydrazides (eta(inh) = 0.56-0.60 dl/g) and polyhydrazides (eta(inh) = 0.71-1.32 dl/g) have been obtained in quantitative yield and high molecular weight. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.