Method of preparing a poly(arylene ether) and a poly(arylene ether) prepared thereby

摘要

The invention relates to a method of preparing a poly(arylene ether), comprising oxidatively coupling a monohydric phenol at a reaction temperature, T rxn , using an oxygen-containing gas in the presence of a solvent and a complex metal catalyst to produce a reaction mixture comprising a poly(arylene ether) resin; wherein the reaction mixture has a cloud point, T cloud and T rxn is greater than T cloud ; wherein the monohydric phenol comprises 2,6-dimethylphenol (DMP) and 2,3,6-trimethylphenol (TMP) in a weight ration DMP to TMP of 3:1 to 6:1; wherein the solvent comprises a C 6 -C 18 aromatic hydrocarbon; and wherein the complex metal catalyst comprises an alkylenediamine ligand having the formula
€ƒ€ƒ€ƒ€ƒ€ƒ€ƒ€ƒ€ƒ (R b ) 2 N-R a -N(R b ) 2
wherein R a is a substituted of unsubstituted divalent residue wherein two or three aliphatic carbon atoms form the closest link between the two diamine nitrogen atoms; and each R b is independently hydrogen or C 1 -C 8 alkyl.