Syntheses of aromatic polyketones and aromatic polyamide

High molecular weight aromatic polyketones were prepared from p- and m-phenoxybenzoic acid in polyphosphoric acid by heating the reaction mixture at 100°C. High molecular weight aromatic polyamide was derived from the polyketone obtained through Schmidt reaction or Beckmann rearrangement. The polyamide obtained by Schmidt reaction was found to have some regularity in an arrangement of its repeating units. The thermal stability of the polyketone and the polyamide were good.