Chemical structure effect upon glass transition

Since 1985, a major effort has been devoted to incorporating heterocyclic units within the backbone of poly(arylene etherjs (PAE). Heterocyclic units within PAE generally improve certain properties such as strength, modulus and the glass transition temperature. Nucleophilic and electrophilic aromatic substitution have been successfully used to prepare a variety of PAE containing heteorcyclic units. Many different heterocyclic families have been incorporated within PAE The synthetic approaches and the chemistry, mechanical and physical properties of PAE containing different families of heterocyclic units are discussed. Emphasis is placed on the effect variations in chemical structure (composition) have upon polymer properties. 

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