Polyimides (PIs) are widely applied in the fields of aerospace, membrane, and electronic industries. However, with the fast-growing application, the degradation of polymer has become a serious problem people are confronted with. In this work, a series of novel degradable PIs were prepared from diamine 4,6-bis(4-aminophenoxy)pyrimidine with various commercially available aromatic dianhydrides by a conventional two-stage method. The resulting PIs could degrade fast under methylamine medium in N,N-dimethylacetamide, and the degradation mechanism was speculated by analyzing the degradation products. Compared with the traditional method, a facile and effective method for PI degradation was provided. The results suggested that incorporating 4,6-diphenoxypyrimidine structure into polymer chains may grow up to be a new method for polymer degradation.
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