| abstract |
Cyclic poly(aryl ether) oligomers and mixtures thereof, and methods for the preparation thereof in a highly dilute reaction medium under reaction conditions favorable for ring closure at low degrees of polymerization. These oligomers are represented by the general formula ##STR1## where each Y is divalent oxygen or divalent sulfur, each Ar is an aromatic diradical which comprises one or more C 6 to C 20 arylene groups and has at least one electron withdrawing group attached to an aromatic ring, and n is an integer from 1 to about 20 with the proviso that for integer values of n equal to 1 or 2 all linkages between independent aromatic rings comprise at least one atom. |