Porous, crystallized, aromatic polycarbonate prepolymer, a porous, crystallized aromatic polycarbonate, and production methods

Abstract

A porous, crystallized, aromatic polycarbonate prepolymer is disclosed, which comprises recurring aromatic carbonate units and terminal hydroxyl and aryl carbonate groups, wherein these terminal groups are in a specific molar ratio, and has specific number average molecular weight, surface area and crystallinity. The prepolymer can readily be converted by solid-state condensation polymerization to a porous, crystallized, aromatic polycarbonate having excellent properties. The porous, crystallized, aromatic polycarbonate of the present invention can readily be molded to obtain a shaped, porous, crystallized polycarbonate. The porous, crystallized, aromatic polycarbonate and the shaped, porous, crystallized polycarbonate of the present invention have excellent heat resistance and solvent resistance and exhibit advantageously low water absorption so that these are suited for use as a filter material, an adsorbent or the like. The porous, crystallized, aromatic polycarbonate and the shaped porous, crystallized polycarbonate of the present invention can also readily be molded by a melt process into an article useful as engineering plastics, such as an optical element and an electronic component, which is appreciated since it is free of impurities, such as chlorine-containing compounds, and has excellent properties.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.