Assessment of random aromatic co‐polyamides containing two different bulky pendant groups

ABSTRACT This work reports the synthesis and assessment of random aromatic co‐polyamides containing two different bulky pendant groups. The random aromatic co‐polyamides are synthesized combining the monomers 5‐tert‐butylisophthalic acid and 5‐(9,10‐dihydro‐9,10‐ethanoanthracene‐11,12‐dicarboximido)isophthalic acid with three different diamines. The random aromatic co‐polyamides are readily soluble and possess inherent viscosities in the range of 0.47–0.60 dL g−1. Co‐polyamide dense membranes are amorphous, and flexible with both good tensile strength (56.2–57.5 MPa) and tensile modulus (1.3–1.6 GPa). Permeability coefficients of the co‐polyamide dense membranes are assessed for the gases He, O2, N2, CH4, and CO2. It is found that the combination of two bulky pendant groups, dibenzobarrelene and tert‐butyl, in the backbone of the co‐polyamides improves the gas permeability coefficient in comparison with their corresponding homopolyamides. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 45884.