Poly(amic acid)s and their poly(amide imide) counterparts containing azobenzene moieties: Characterization, imidization kinetics and photochromic properties

• Three azopoly(amide imide)s were obtained from azopoly(amic acid)s.
• Chosen physicochemical properties and photochromic responses were measured.
• Desired optical response was found for polymers with two azo-dyes in repeating unit.
• Structure-property relations were shown.

We report on a series of novel photochromic poly(amide imide)s and their poly(amic acid) precursors bearing azobenzene chromophores as the side groups. The chemical structures of the polymers were designed so that they exhibited an enhanced thermal stability combined with a large and stable birefringence photogenerated by light of the wavelengths belonging to a wide spectral range. The polymers possessed rigidly attached azochromophores in the content of either one or two per a repeating unit, which in the latter case differed in their structures. The imidization kinetics of the poly(amic acid)s was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and the kinetic parameters were estimated using Ozawa and Kissinger methods. Measurements of the selected physical properties of the polymers, such as solubility, supramolecular structure, linear absorption, thermal stability, glass transition and photochromic response were performed and used for determination of the structure-property relations. The measurements of photochromic properties showed a very efficient generation of optical anisotropy upon blue and violet irradiation, for both the poly(amide imide)s containing two different chromophores in the repeating unit and for their precursors. For these poly(amide imide)s and for their precursors an exceptionally slow decrease in the photoinduced optical anisotropy in the dark was also observed.

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