Amide-ester copolymers and process for the preparation thereof

A process for making a block copolymer, comprising

• (a) reacting essentially stoichiometric amounts of the diaryl ester of a dicarboxylic acid having the formula:
• ##STR10## with a diamine of the formula:
• R.sup.2 NH--G--NHR.sup.2
• and then (b) reacting the product formed in (a) with essentially stoichiometric amounts of a diol of the formula
• HO--R--OH
• and a diaryl or dialkyl ester of an aromatic dicarboxylic acid to form a polyamide polyester block copolymer having the structural formula:
• ##STR11## and wherein units A comprise from about 1 to about 99 percent by weight of said copolymer and units B comprise from about 99 to about 1 percent by weight of said copolymer, where E is a divalent aryl group unsubstituted or substituted with at least one chlorine, bromine, fluorine, nitro, nitrile, alkyl of from 1 to 6 carbon atoms, alkoxy of from 1 to 6 carbon atoms or aryl of from 6 to 20 carbon atoms, or a mixture of any of the foregoing;
• G is a divalent, aryl, or cycloalkyl group of from about 2 to about 30 carbon atoms or a mixture of any of the foregoing, or G is as defined and is interrupted with alkylene, arylene, carbonyl, ether, amino or sulfur containing groups, unsubstituted or substituted with at least one of chlorine, bromine, fluorine, nitro, nitrile, alkyl of from 1 to 6 carbon atoms, alkoxy of from 1 to 6 carbon atoms, or aryl of from 6 to 20 carbon atoms;
• R is a divalent alkyl, cycloalkyl, or aliphatic ether group of from about 2 to about 20 carbon atoms or a mixture of such groups;
• Ar.sup.3 is the same or different aryl group or aryl group substituted with at least one of chlorine, bromine, fluorine, or alkyl of from 1 to 6 carbon atoms, and R.sup.2 is hydrogen or an alkyl radical having from 1 to 10 carbon atoms;
• x and y are each integers greater than 15 and z is an interger of from 1 to 100,001.