New Polyimides of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIM-PI)

PIMs are a class of ultra-permeable polymer that are attracting attention for membrane applications [1]. Here we describe the synthesis and properties of new polyimides designed according to the concept of PIMs in that they possess highly rigid and contorted structures (Fig. 1). These PIM-PIs were prepared using a novel aromatic bisanhydride monomer together with commercial aromatic diamines known to be compatible with obtaining polyimides of high gas permeability. These new polymers will be compared to previously published PIM-PIs of high permeability [2]. Figure 1. An example of a novel PIM-PI. Acknowledgements: We thank the EPSRC and the EU FP7 programme DoubleNanoMem (NMP3-SL-2009-228631) for funding and the members of the DoubleNanoMem consortium for measurements of the properties of PIMs. References [1]N.B. McKeown and P.M. Budd, Exploitation of intrinsic microporosity in polymer-based materials, Macromolecules 43 (2010) 5163-5176. [2]B.S. Ghanem, N.B. McKeown, P.M. Budd, N.M. Al-Harbi, D. Fritsch, K. Heinrich, L. Starannikova, A. Tokarev and Y. Yampolskii, Synthesis, Characterization, and Gas Permeation Properties of a Novel Group of Polymers with Intrinsic Microporosity: PIM-Polyimides, Macromolecules 42 (2009) 7882-7888.