Poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene-oxide) derivatives with sulfonyl pendant groups and methods therefor

Abstract

A sulfonyl-substituted polyphenylene-ether polymer having improved dielectric properties and methods for making the same. The sulfonyl-substituted PPE include sulfone-containing polyphenylene oxides (“PPO”) polymers having repeating units of the formulas: wherein each of R1 and R2 is H or an alkyl group containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, R3 is an alkylene group containing from 1 or 2 carbon atoms, R4 is selected from a group consisting of an alkyl group containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, an aryl group, and CF3, and X is a halogen atom. The subscript n is 0 or 1; the subscript m is 1 or 2, provided that when m is 2, R2 is H. A degree of polymerization ranges from about 5 to about 1,000, and a ratio of units having formula (1) to units having formula (2) of the sulfone-containing PPO polymer ranges from about 10:90 to about 90:10.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.