POLYBENZIMIDAZOLE AS A LIGAND FOR POLYMER-SUPPORTED CHEMISTRY.

The choice of reactive polymer is indeed a critical one as organic polymers sometimes suffer from their relatively low thermal or chemical stability while inorganic supports often provide only barely adequate capacities. Poly(benzimidazoles) have been known for many years following the early work of Marvel and coworkers; this type of polymer is remarkable for its very high thermal stability which has led to its commercial development of Celanese Fibers Operations. Recently, a process for the preparation of poly(benzimidazole) beads has also been described by a DuPont chemist while numerous other approaches based mainly on precipitation polymerization techniques can also lead to satisfactory poly(benzimidazole) beads.