Anisotropic dopes of aromatic polyamides

An anisotropic dope of an aromatic polyamide, comprising more than 10% by weight of an aromatic polyamide and an organic polar or protonic acid solvent therefore, said aromatic polyamide consisting essentially of 100 mole% of:

• A. at least 5 mole% but less than 35 mole%, based on the entire units of the polyamide, of units of formula (1) below ##STR21## wherein Ar.sup.1 is a divalent aromatic ring whose chain-extending bonds are coaxial or parallel and is a phenylene, biphenylene, naphthylene or pyridylene, each of which may have a substituent which is a lower alkyl, lower alkoxy, halogen, nitro, or cyano group, X is a member selected from the group consisting of O, S and NH, and the NH group bonded to the benzene ring of the above benzoxazle, benzothiazole or benzimidazole ring is meta or para to the carbon atom to which X is bonded of said benzene ring;
• B. 0 to 45 mole%, based on the entire units of the polyamide, of units of formula (2) below
• -- NH -- Ar.sup.2 -- NH -- (2)
• wherein Ar.sup.2 is the same in definition as Ar.sup.1, and is identical to or different from Ar.sup.1 ;
• C. an equimolar amount, based on the total moles of the units of formulae (1) and (2) above, of a structural unit of formula (3) below
• -- CO -- Ar.sup.3 --CO -- (3)
• wherein Ar.sup.3 is ##STR22## in which the benzene ring optionally contains a substituent selected from the group consisting of halogen, lower alkyl, lower alkoxy, nitro and cyano;
• and
• 0to 90 mole%, based on the entire units of the polyamide, of a structural unit of formula (4) below
• -- NH -- Ar.sup.4 -- CO -- (4)
• wherein Ar.sup.4 is the same in definition as Ar.sup.1, and is identical to or different from Ar.sup.1.