the synthesis described herein begins with a reaction between an aromatic amine and a dihydric phenol to produce an aminophenol . next , an anhydride or dianhydride is reacted with an aminophenol to prepare a phenol precursor . lastly , the phenolic precursor is reacted with a carbonate precursor to form a high heat carbonate polymer . preferred aromatic amines for making the aminophenol include arylamines , such as , anline , 2 - bromoanline , 2 , 5 - dibromoanline , 2 - methylanline , 2 - ethylaniline , 2 , 5 - diethylaniline , 2 - methoxyaniline , 2 , 3 - dimethoxyaniline , 2 - ethoxyanline , 2 , 3 - diethoxyaniline , and the like . preferred dihydric phenols for making the amino phenol include , 2 , 2 - bis ( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) propane ; 2 , 2 - bis ( 2 , 6 - dibromo - 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) propane ; 3 , 3 - bis ( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) pentane ; 2 , 2 - bis ( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) heptane ; bis ( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) phenylmethane ; 2 , 2 - bis ( 4 - hydroxyphenyl )- 1 - phenylpropane ; and the like . upon reacting the aromatic amine with the dihydric phenol , one generates an amino phenol . in the next step of the synthesis , the amino phenol is reacted with a mono or diahydride to produce a phenolic precursor . the phenolic precursor of this invention is preferably a bisphenol monomer containing imide or diimide moieties . preferred aminophenols for preparing the phenolic precursor include those according to formulas 1 , 2 , 3 , or 4 : ## str1 ## wherein r 1 , r 2 , r 3 , r 4 , r 5 and r 6 of formulas ( 1 ) and ( 3 ) are independently alkyl , alkylaryl or arylalkyl radicals . the alkyl radical ( s ) are from is 1 - 20 carbon atoms , preferably 1 - 10 carbon atoms and most preferably 1 - 6 carbon atoms . the aryl radical ( s ) comprise 1 to 2 aryl radicals . in formula ( 2 ), r3 and r4 are independently alkyl radicals of 1 to 4 carbon atoms . as stated previously , the phenolic precursor of the invention is prepared by reacting an aminophenol with a mono or di - anhydride ( collectively &# 34 ; anhydrides ). the following classes of anhydrides according to formulas 5 , 6 , 7 ( a ) or 7 ( b ) are preferred for synthesizing the diphenolic precursor : ## str2 ## in formulas 5 and 6 , r 1 has the same meaning set forth previously . in formula 6 , x is a preferably a bivalent residue of one of the following : bisphenols , substituted bisphenols , substituted spiro biindane , sulfones , oxygen , or bivalent radicals according to formulas 8 - 10 below : ## str3 ## x may also be the residue ( meaning removal of the h atoms from the hydroxyl groups ) of the following additional dihydric phenols and substituted dihydric phenols that may be employed to prepare the copolymer of formula ( 6 ): ( i ) dihydroxydiphenyls such as 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxydiphenyl methane ; 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- dihydroxydiphenyl propane ; 2 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxydiphenyl propane ; dihydroxynaphthalenes such as 2 , 6 - dihydroxynaphthalene , and the like ; ( ii ) sulfones , such as bis -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) sulfone ; 2 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxydiphenyl sulfone , 5 &# 39 ;- chloro - 2 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxydiphenyl sulfone , 5 &# 39 ;- chloro - 2 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxydiphenyl sulfone ; 3 &# 39 ;- chloro - 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxydiphenyl sulfone , and 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxytriphenyl disulfone ; and ( iii ) ethers such as 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxydiphenyl ether ; 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxytriphenyl ether ; the 4 , 3 &# 39 ;-, 4 , 2 &# 39 ;-, 4 , 1 &# 39 ;-, 2 , 2 &# 39 ;-, 2 , 3 &# 39 ;- dihydroxydiphenyl ethers ; 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxy - 2 , 6 - dimethyldiphenyl ether ; 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxy - 2 , 5 - dimethyldiphenyl ether ; 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxy - 3 , 3 &# 39 ;- dissobutyldiphenyl ether ; 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxy - 3 , 3 &# 39 ;- dissopropyldiphenyl ether ; 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxy - 3 , 2 &# 39 ;- dinitrodiphenyl ether ; 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxy - 3 , 3 &# 39 ;- dichlorodiphenyl ether ; 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxy - 3 , 3 &# 39 ;- difluorodiphenyl ether ; 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxy - 2 , 3 - dibromodiphenyl ether ; 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxydinaphthyl ether ; 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxy - 3 , 3 &# 39 ;- dichlorodinaphthyl ether ; 2 , 4 - dihydroxytetraphenyl ether ; 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxypentaphenyl ether ; 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxy - 2 , 6 - dimethoxydiphenyl ether ; and 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- dihydroxy - 2 , 5 - diethoxydiphenyl ether . it should be understood that the above list includes non - limiting examples . mixtures of the dihydric phenols can also be employed and where dihydric phenol is mentioned herein , mixtures of such materials are considered to be included . x is most preferably a bivalent residue of a bis ( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) alkane in which the central alkane group contains from 1 - 8 carbon atoms . especially preferred dihydric phenols are gem - bis ( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) alkanes in which the central alkylidene group contains from 1 - 8 carbon atoms . preferably the dihydric phenol is 2 , 2 - bis ( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) propane ( i . e ., formula 9 ). the reaction of the aminophenol and anhydride is generally carried out in an acid medium or a high boiling solvent such as ortho dichloro benzene ( odcb ). the reactants are typically heated to reflux temperature for a period of time sufficient to form the phenolic precursor . the solid phenolic precursor is recovered ( e . g ., by filtration ). the recovered phenolic precursor may be further purified by refluxing the phenolic precursor in solvent having a boiling temperature of about 160 - 200 ° c ., such as odcb , and subsequently recovering the purified solid phenolic precursor by precipitating the solid product in an organic liquid phase such as xylene . the phenolic precursor of this invention can be represented by the following formulas : ## str4 ## wherein r 1 , r 2 , r 3 , r 4 , r 5 , r 6 , r 7 , and r 8 are independently selected from alkyl , alkylaryl , and arylalkyl radicals of 1 - 20 carbon atoms and x is as defined above . the phenolic precursor utilized in the practice of this invention preferably contains at least two phenolic groups and either 1 or 2 imide moieties . formulas ( 11 ), ( 12 ), and ( 13 ), show phenolic precursors having two imide groups and two phenolic groups . these compounds are conceptually similar to bisphenol - a ( bpa ) and , as such , can be used as monomers and comonomers in the preparation of polymeric material such as carbonate polymers . the phenolic precursor is then reacted with a carbonate precursor such as a carbonyl chloride , dialkyl carbonate , diaryl carbonate , alkyl aryl carbonate , cycloalkyl carbonate , cycloakyl - aryl carbonate , halogen substituted alkyl carbonate or alkoxy carbonate to form a high heat carbonate polymer . this reaction may be performed by an interfacial polymerization process , by reacting the phenolic precursor with a diphenyl carbonate utilizing a melt transesterification process , or by a solid state polymerization process . in yet another reaction scheme , the phenolic precursor and carbonate precursor can be reacted with another dihydric phenol to prepare a high heat carbonate copolymer . some preferred polymers made by reacting a phenolic monomer with a carbonate precursor are represented by the following formulas : ## str5 ## wherein r 1 , r 2 , r 3 , r 4 , r 5 , r 6 , r 7 , and r 8 have the same meaning as set forth previously and are preferably 1 - 10 carbon atoms ; x has the meaning previously described . the polymers typically have 3 to 100 repeat units . alternatively , the phenolic precursor and carbonate precursor can additionally be reacted with another dihydric phenol to form a copolymer wherein the residue of the reactants may be represented by the following general formula : ( dihydric phenol ) m ( formula ( 11 ) or ( 12 ) or ( 13 )) y wherein m is an integer of 1 - 100 and y is an integer of 1 - 100 . the dihydric phenols that can be employed herein to form the copolymer can be any of the dihydric phenols described previously herein . the copolymers may be either alternating , random , or block copolymers . as stated previously , the phenolic precursors of this invention can also be utilized to prepare other high heat carbonate polymers , such as polyestercarbonate and other polymers . the high heat carbonate polymers and copolymers described herein can also be blended with other polymers such as , for example , polyalkyleneterephthalates such as polyethyleneterephthalate ( pet ) polybutyleneterephalate ( pbt ), polypropyleneterephthalate ( ppt ), poly ( ethylenenaphthanoate ) ( pen ), polybutylenenapthanoate ( pbn ), polyethesinile , polyesterimide and the like ; acrylonitrile - butadine - styrene ( abs ), and other polymers which are compatible with the carbonate polymer . in addition , the phenolic precursor may be utilized in preparing copolyestercarbonates as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 506 , 065 , which is incorporated herein by reference . the copolyestercarbonates and copolyester carbonate imide and the like can include blends thereof with other polymers that are compatible with such copolyestercarbonates . these may include such other polymers as set forth above such as polyesters , abs , and the like . the aromatic copolyestercarbonates suitable for use in the present invention are derived from carbonate precursors and dihydric phenol which are also useful in the preparation of a comparable aromatic polycarbonate . however , more that one appropriate dihydric phenol , as discussed above , may be used to prepare copolyestercarbonates of the invention . the aromatic dicarboxylic acid employed in the preparation of the copolyester carbonate is preferably terephthalic acid or mixtures of isophthalic and terephthalic acid and may be for example , of the following formula : ## str6 ## wherein r is an alkyl , arylakyl or alkylaryl radical of 1 - 20 carbon atom and the molecule has 1 - 100 repeat units . any ester forming derivative of a carboxylic acid which is reactive with the hydroxyl of a dihydric phenol may be employed . the acid halides are generally employed because of their ease of reactivity and availability . the acid chlorides are preferred . the ester content of the aromatic copolyestercarbonate should preferably be in the range from about 20 to about 50 mole percent , and more preferably from about 25 to about 45 mole percent . in another preferred emobdiment , the aromatic copolyestercarbonate comprises a mixture of isophthalic and terephthalic acids in a ratio of from about 0 . 1 : 9 . 9 to 3 : 7 isophthalic to terephthalic acid . a more preferred ratio is from about 0 . 5 : 9 . 5 to 2 : 8 . the standard methods for preparing copolyestercarbonate can be employed . such methods are found , for example in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 238 , 596 and 4 , 238 , 597 , which are incorporated herein by reference . in addition , the diphenolic precursor of this invention may be utilized to prepare other polymers compositions such as polyesters , polyurethane , coating compositions in acrylic and / or polyester enamels cross - linked with a hydroxymelamine cross - linking agent . additionally , various other additives may be employed with the polymers of this invention . specifically , the polymers according to the invention may further contain other resins and additives such as pigments , uv - stabilizers , reinforcing agents , fillers , impact modifiers , heat resisting agents , antioxidants , anti - weathering agents , heat stabilizers , mold release agents , lubricants , nucleating agents , plasticizers , flame retardants , flow - improving agents and anti - statics . these additives may be introduced in a mixing or molding process , provided the properties of the composition are not damaged . any type of pigment that is well known for inclusion in thermoplastic materials can also be added to the polymer . preferred pigments include titanium dioxide , zinc sulfide , carbon black , cobalt chromate , cobalt titanate , cadmium sulfides , iron oxide , sodium aluminum sulfosilicate , sodium sulfosilicate , chrome antimony titanium rutile , nickel antimony titanium rutile , zinc oxide , and polytetrafluoroethylene . it may also be advantageous to include various chemicals to prevent degradation of the polymer due to exposure to uv light ( hereinafter &# 34 ; uv stabilizers &# 34 ;). suitable uv stabilizers include substituted benzotriazoles , or triazines , or tetraalkylpiperidines . the uv stabilizers may be mixed into the thermoplastic matrix , or they can be included only in a &# 34 ; hardcoat &# 34 ; transparent protective layer which is applied over the viewing surface . the optional reinforcing fillers may be metallic fillers such as fine powder aluminum , iron , nickel , or metal oxides . non - metallic fillers include carbon filaments , silicates such as mica , aluminum silicate or clay , talc and asbestos , titanium oxide , wollastonite , novaculite , potassium titanate , titanate whiskers , glass fillers and polymer fibers or combinations thereof . glass fillers useful for reinforcement are not particularly limited in their types or shapes and may be , for instance , glass fibers , milled glass , glass flakes and hollow or solid glass beads . glass fillers may be subjected to surface treatment with coupling agents such as silane or titanate - type agents to enhance their adhesion with resin , or coated with inorganic oxides to provide some surface color to the filler . reinforcing fillers are preferably used in an amount sufficient to yield the reinforcing effect , usually 1 to 60 % by weight , preferably less than 10 % by weight , based on the total weight of the composition . glass fibers , or a combination of glass fibers with talc , mica or aluminum silicate are preferred reinforcing agents . phosphites ( e . g ., aromatic phosphite thermal stabilizers ), metal salts of phosphoric and phosphorous acid , hindered phenol antioxidants , and aromatic lactone radical scavengers may also be added as stabilizers or antioxidants . suitable antistatic agents include , but are not limited to , phosphonium salts , polyalkylene glycols , sulfonium salts and alkyl and aryl ammonium salts . suitable mold release agents include , but are not limited to , pentaerythritol tetracarboxylate , glycerol monocarboxylates , glycerol tricarboxylates , polyolefins , alkyl waxes and amides . this invention can be further described by means of the following examples . it is understood , however , that this invention shall in no way be restricted by these examples . where amounts are in terms of percent , they are percent by weight unless otherwise stated . a three liter , four neck flask equipped with an overhead stirrer , a thermometer , a condenser , an argon inlet and outlet , was charged with : - 104 . 10 grams of bpa - dianhydride ( 200 mmol .) from the ultem plant - 93 grams of 2 -( 4 - aminophenyl )- 2 - 4 &# 39 ;- hydroxyphenyl )- propane ( 96 %), and - 1000 ml of glacial acetic acid . the resulting mixture was refluxed for 16 hours under a flow of argon . by the time reflux started , all the reactants had passed into solution and no precipitation was observed throughout the reflux period . after 16 hours , the reaction was cooled to room temperature and quenched by pouring the reaction mixture into two 4l beakers each filled with water . a white precipitate formed . after stirring , the precipitate was isolated by filtration . the precipitate was then oven dried at 50 ° c . the dried crystals were further purified by refluxing in 500 ml of odcb for about 5 hours , subsequently reprecipitating by the crystals adding 100 ml of xylene . the crystal composition was confirmed by 1 h , 13 c nmr . a 500 ml three - neck flask equipped with a mechanical stirrer and condenser was charged with 20 g ( 0 . 088 mol ) of amino - bpa , 22 . 9 g ( 0 . 044 mol ) of bpa dianhydride , 160 g of obcb , 10 . 7 g of toluene , and 330 ppm triethyl amine . the flask was then purged with nitrogen and the reaction mixture heated to 130 ° c . and allowed to stir for 2 hours . an additional 10 ml of toluene was then added and the reaction allowed to continue for an additional 2 . 5 hours . the macromer was precipitated by adding 30 g of o - xylene while allowing the reaction mixture to cool . the macromonomer was filtered and dried at 50 ° c . for 10 hours . this product was soluble in tetrahydrofuran ( thf ), anisole , odcb , dimethyl sulfoxide ( dmso ), acetonitrile , and warm chlorobenzene . it was insoluble in diethyl ether , chloroform , and methylenechloride . an alternative &# 34 ; melt &# 34 ; route polymerization was as follows . a 100 ml three - neck flask equipped with a mechanical stirrer and condenser was charged with 11 . 45 g ( 0 . 050 mol ) bpa dianhydride and 10 . 0 g ( 0 . 044 mol ) amino - bpa . this mixture was then heated to 200 ° c ., and allowed to react for 1 hour under a nitrogen blanket . the product was then cooled and ground into a fine powder . a 1000 nml three - neck flask equipped with a mechanical stirrer and condenser was charged with 80 . 298 g ( 0 . 154 mol ) of bpa dianhydride , 33 . 66 g ( 0 . 308 mol ) of 4 - aminophenol , and 400 ml of acetic acid . the mixture was then purged with nitrogen and allowed to react for a period of 10 hours at 125 ° c . under continuous stirring . the reaction product was the poured into an excess of warm water ( 2l ) and stirred for 30 minutes with a magnetic stirrer . the resulting macromer crystals were filtered , and subsequently washed with water until the ph was 6 . 6 . the crystals were then washed with cold methanol to facilitate drying , and dried in - vacuoat for approximately 8 hours at 75 ° c . the product was soluble in dmso , hot odcb , and thf . the product was insoluble in toluene , water , methanol , and methylene chloride in an alternative reaction , a flask equipped with a mechanical stirrer and condenser was charged 40 . 148 g ( 0 . 771 mol ) bpa dianhydride , 16 . 83 g ( 0 . 154 mol ) 4 - aminophenol , 200 ml of odcb , 25 ml of toluene ( to remove reaction product ), and 0 . 5 ml of triehtyl amine . the mixture was allowed to stir at 130 ° c . for a period of 4 . 5 hours , under nitrogen atmosphere , after which the temperature was reduced to room temperature . 500 ml of cold methanol was then added to the reaction mixture to crystallize the product . this mixture was allowed to stir for 30 minutes . the crystals were then recovered by filtration , added to 400 ml of cold methanol , and allowed to stir an additional 30 minutes . the product was then filtered again , and dried invacuoat 75 ° c . for approximately 20 hours . this reaction is represented below . bisphenol diimide ## str8 ## a 250 ml three - neck flask equipped with a mechanical stirrer and condenser was charged with 12 . 97 g ( 0 . 0586 mol ) of pyromellitic dianhydride , 12 . 79 g ( 0 . 1172 mol ) of 3 - amino phenol , and 100 ml of dimethyl acetamide . the mixture was allowed to react for approximately 20 hours under nitrogen atmosphere . 22 . 6 ml ( 0 . 2344 mol ) of acetic anhydride was then added , and the reaction temperature was increased to 80 ° c . for a period of 5 hours . the resulting suspension was then cooled to room temperature and filtered . the product was washed with 10 ml of dimethyl acetamide and 70 ml of methanol . the product was dried in - vacuo at 75 ° c . for 7 hours . the macromonomer was yellow , and soluble in hot dmso and naoh solution . it was insoluble in thf , water , methylene chloride , and odcb . ## str9 ## a small polymerization reactor was charged with 39 . 99 g of polycarbonate prepolymer having a mw = 7400 , mn = 2400 , phenol 0 . 193 %, diphenyl carbonate ( dpc ) 0 . 317 %, and bpa 0 . 067 %, 12 . 05 g of the oligomer prepared in example 1 , and 3 . 004 g of dpc . the mol ratio of dpc to bisphenol diimide was 1 . 10 : 1 . 0 . after the reactor was charged , the contents were purged with nitrogen for a period of 10 minutes . vacuum was the applied for a period of 5 minutes followed by a nitrogen flush . in the first reaction stage , the reactor contents were melted under a nitrogen atmosphere at 200 ° c . for 10 minutes . in the second stage of the reaction , the pressure was decreased to approximately 70 - 80 mbar , and the melt temperature increased to 210 ° c . during this second stage , stirring was maintained at 30 rpm . after 40 minutes , we started the third reaction stage by decreasing the pressure to approximately 10 mbar , and increasing the melt temperature to 270 ° c . stirring was maintained at 30 rpm for 50 minutes . the fourth and final reaction stage was accomplished by reducing the pressure to 0 . 2 - 0 . 8 mbar and rasing the melt temperature to 300 ° c . the reaction mixture stirred for an additional 20 minutes during this stage . the resulting molten polymer was then removed from the reactor and allowed to cool . the polymer had a mw of 49 , 800 , mw / mn = 2 . 7 , and a tg of 169 ° c . the formula for this polymer is shown below : ## str10 ## this example repeats the same polymerization procedure as example 4 , but use differing amounts of the bisphenol diimide of example 1 . also , the bisphenol diimide oligomer of example 3 , was polymerized . the following results were obtained : ______________________________________ mw via pc calibration tg (° c .) ______________________________________ % example 1 15 39 , 000 159 . 8 25 49 , 800 168 . 5 30 51 , 000 169 . 3 48 48 , 000 175 . 0 % example 3 25 37 , 800 171 . 0______________________________________ the pyrex glass reactors used for this synthesis were acid washed ( soaked during 24 hours in 1 n hcl solution ) and rinsed extensively with milli - q water to eliminate trace surface contamination which is essential for melt transesterification polymerization . polyetherimide - pc copolymers made from bpa - bisimide - 3 - aminophenol and bpa ( 40 wt % bpa ; 60 wt % bpa - bisimide - 3 - aminophenol ) were synthesized by the following procedure . first , bpa - pc prepolymer ( mw ( pc )= 7400 g / mol ; 10 . 77 g ; 0 . 0421 mol ; contains 2 . 10e - 8 mol naoh ), bpa - bisimide - 3 - aminophenol ( 14 . 5 g ; 0 . 0207 mol ) and diphenylcarbonate ( 4 . 87 g ; 0 . 0228 mol ) were charged into a dry glass reactor . no extra catalysts ( naoh / tmah ) were added . the reactor was deoxygenated by evacuating to 0 . 5 - 1 mbar , and subsequently re pressurizing with nitrogen to atmospheric pressure . this was repeated four times . next , the reactor was electrically heated to 230 ° c . to receive a homogeneous melt . once a small amount of the mixture was melted ( under nitrogen atmosphere ), stirring was started carefully to accelerate melting ( final stirring speed 40 rpm ). total melting time was 1 hour . then the pressure was slowly decreased to 90 mbar . after 30 minutes , the temperature was raised to 285 ° c ., pressure was further decreased to 40 mbar , and phenol started to distill . phenol continued to distill during the next 30 minutes into the cold trap ( cooled with liquid nitrogen ). the reaction temperature was then raised to 300 ° c . at this time , the vacuum was decreased further to 7 mbar , and held there for 20 minutes . next , reactor pressure was lowered to 1 mbar . after another 20 minutes , maximum vacuum was applied ( 0 . 1 - 0 . 4 mbar ), and the temperature was raised to 310 ° c . polymerization was continued for 1 hour . a total of 3 . 5 grams of distillate was collected during the course of the reaction . a clear , transparent , ochreous polycarbonate was obtained , yielding the following analytical data : mw ( pc )= 20500 g / mol ; mn ( pc )= 7700 g / mol ; mw / mn = 2 . 7 ; tg = 163 ° c . ( 20 ° c ./ min ). polyetherimide - pc copolymers made from bpa - bisimide - 4 - aminophenol and bpa ( 55 wt % bpa ; 45 wt % bpa - bisimide - 4 - aminophenol ), mw ( pc )= 35400 g / mol ; mn ( pc )= 14700 g / mol ; mw / mn = 2 . 4 ; tg = 174 ° c . ; polyetherimide - pc copolymers made from bpa - bisimide - aminobpa and bpa ( 60wt % bpa ; 40 wt % bpa - bisimide - aminobpa ), mw ( pc )= 24000 g / mol ; mn ( pc )= 10500 g / mol ; mw / mn = 2 . 3 ; tg = 165 ° c . ; polyetherimide - pc copolymers made from bpa - bisimide - ethanolamine and bpa ( 53 wt % bpa ; 47 wt % bpa - bisimide - ethanolamine ), maximum reactor temperature was 270 ° c ., mw ( pc )= 27100 g / mol ; mn ( pc )= 10000 g / mol ; mw / mn = 2 . 7 ; tg = 138 ° c . ; polyetherimide - pc copolymers made from pmda - bisimide - ethanolamine and bpa ( 69 wt % bpa ; 31 wt % pmda - bisimide - ethanolamine ), maximum reactor temperature was 270 ° c ., mw ( pc )= 29000 g / mol ; mn ( pc )= 8300 g / mol ; mw / mn = 3 . 5 ; tg = 155 ° c . polyetherimide - pc copolymers made from bpa - bisimide - amino bpa and bpa ( 60 wt % bpa ; 40 wt % bpa - bisimide - aminobpa ) were synthesized by the following procedure . bpa - bisimide - amino bpa ( 22 . 5 g ; 0 . 0240 mol ), bpa ( 27 . 5 g ; 0 . 121 mol ), p - cumylphenol ( 0 . 982 g ; 0 . 00463 mol ), sodium gluconate ( 1 . 5 g ; 0 . 00688 mol ), triethylamine ( 0 . 18 g ; 0 . 00178 mol ), 138 g distilled water , 430 g methylene chloride and 5 g 32 wt % naoh ( aq ) were added to a 1 liter 3 - neck round flask . the mixture was stirred at 25 ° c . and the initial ph was 11 . 5 . the mixture was phosgenated for 30 minutes . the mixture temperature raised to 40 ° c . ( reflux temperature of methylenechloride ) during the reaction due to the reaction exotherm , and ph was kept as close as possible to about 9 - 10 by simultaneously adding caustic solution . in total , 34 . 8 g of phosgene ( 0 . 35 mol ) was added . next , the ph was brought back to 11 . 5 , and after phase separation , the water phase was discarded . then , the organic phase was washed once with acid solution , and several times with water . a clear , transparent , slightly colored polycarbonate was obtained , yielding the following analytical data : mw ( pc )= 32300 g / mol ; mn ( pc )= 7600 g / mol ; mw / mn = 4 . 3 ; tg = 166 ° c . polyetherimide - pc copolymers made from bpa - bisimide - 4 - aminophenol and bpa ( 60 wt % bpa ; 40 wt % bpa - bisimide - 4 - aminophenol ), mw ( pc )= 33100 g / mol ; mn ( pc )= 10800 g / mol ; mw / mn = 3 . 1 ; tg = 168 ° c . the compositions of all the copolymers was determined with nitrogen analysis and by 13 c nmr . there was a good agreement between experimental and calculated amounts of the bisimide incorporated . nmr studies revealed some blockiness in the interfacial copolymers whereas the melt copolymers are completely random . tests were performed on injection molded plaques . the plaques were placed in an autoclave which is operated at 120 ° c . and 1 . 2 bar . haze and mw ( gpc ) were measured on several stages during autoclaving . transparent polymer films of 15 micron thickness were obtained by hot pressing ( 2 minutes , 250 - 300 ° c ., 5 ton ) polymer granules . the films were immersed in a 1 . 8 wt % naoh solution in an oven at 60 ° c . haze , yellowness index and transmission ( according to astm d1003 and d1925 ) and weight were determined after rinsing the samples with distilled water and isopropanol . the results of the caustic test for the bisimide copolymers are depicted in fig1 and 2 . polymers pc145 ( conventional bpa polycarbonate ) and apec 9371 ( high heat polycarbonate commercially available from bayer ) are given as comparative examples . haze was by far the best property to distinguish between the different samples . most polymers showed a large increase in haze in the first 3 - 4 days . both of the control samples dissolved after a few days ( max . 10 days ). regular bpa - pc films , for example , dissolved completely within 5 days . only the bisimide copolymers remained unchanged . the total haze increase of the bpa - bisimide - amino - bpa copolymer was only 12 % ( from 18 to 30 %) after 1166 hours , whereas the weight loss was only 19 %. other bisimide samples were even tested up to 1581 hours (˜ 66 days ) and showed only a 19 % increase in haze . gpc measurements revealed that the mw was unchanged after 1581 hrs . these results are very surprising in that only 14 mol % bisimide units are incorporated in the copolymer . thus one would expect that the copolymers behave more like regular pc . calculations showed also that the number of carbonate linkages in a polymer chain of pc 145 and in apec 9371 was almost equal to the number of carbonate linkages in the bisimide - abpa copolymers . despite this the bisimide copolymers have a very good resistance against caustic compared to bpa - pc as shown in fig1 and 2 . during the autoclave tests , the bisimide copolymers showed the same behavior as regular polycarbonate with respect to molecular weight decrease and haze increase ( only the initial values of haze and mw were different ). ( see fig2 ) in fact , these results are very encouraging as the bisimide copolymers still contain active catalyst ( naoh ), which is believed to play an important ( catalytic ) role during hydrolysis of carbonate bonds . the reference samples ( pc145 and pc175 ) were prepared via the interfacial polymerization process , and therefore do not contain active catalyst species . a striking feature , however , was the presence of white spots on all bpa - pc plaques after appr . 100 hrs . this is believed to be pure bpa resulting from degradation . only the bisimide copolymers did not show these white spots . in the course of the experiment the plaques also became sticky ( lowering of tg because of decrease of mw ) except for the bisimide copolymers . while many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in view of the foregoing specification , it is understood that they would fall within the scope of the appended claims .