High purity diphenyl sulfone, preparation and use thereof for the preparation of a poly(aryletherketone)

A method for the preparation of a poly(aryletherketone) by aromatic nucleophilic substitution in a solvent comprising a diphenyl sulfone, wherein said diphenyl sulfone meets at least all of the following impurity limitations:

• a monomethyldiphenylsulfone content (sum of all isomers) of less than 0.2 area %;
• a monochlorodiphenylsulfone content (sum of all isomers) of less than 0.08 area %;
• a sodium content of less than 55 ppm;
• a potassium content of less than 15 ppm;
• an iron content of less than 5 ppm;
• a residual acidity content of less than 2.0 μeq/g;
• a diphenyl sulfide content of less than 2.0 wt. %;
• an APHA of a 20 wt. % solution in acetone at 25° C. of less than 50;
• and
• a total chlorine content of less than 120 ppm;
• wherein ppm and wt. % are based on the total weight of the diphenyl sulfone and area % represents the ratio of the GC peak area of the impurity of concern over the total area of all GC peaks of the diphenyl sulfone.