Synthesis of Polyimide: Polymerization via Nucleophilic Substitution Reaction

Polyimide is a type of polymer with high end characteristics. These high end characteristics has made polyimide important in the industries as the application ofusage of polyimide has broaden and highly specific. Common industrial application of polyimide is for gas separation. This project highly focuses on synthesizing polyimide from dianhydride and diamine monomers via the classic two step method. Variation in synthesize condition is done so as to be able to determine the optimum condition for the polyimide to exhibit specific characteristics. These characteristics then characterized
through the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Problem statement of the project is that polyimide is not widely
used in the industry compared to other polymer, especially in gas membrane. The project aims to be able to widen the perspective of polyimide in the industry in Malaysia. Characterization of the polyimide is done to provide information on the characteristics and behaviors ofthe polyimide to the industry so that the application of polyimide can be broaden. The study involve the synthesis of polyimide from PMDA and ODA in DMAc
and DMF solvent via the two step method. The two step method is the formation ofpoly (amic acid) and thermal imidization. The synthesis is varied in term of the condition to obtain difference in the characteristics. The polyimide then characterize using the said equipment. FTIR band occurring at approximately 1780-, 1730-, 1375- and 720 cm-1 confirms the presence of imide functional group in polyimide oligomers (Dunson, 2000).