Patent ID: 7718756

Claim:
A polybromoaryl ether prepared by a process comprising: (A) adding to a solvent for the polybromoaryl ether a mixture of: (1) at least one compound of the structure HO—Ar—X 1 X 2 X 3 X 4 X 5 (1) wherein Ar is an aryl group and X 1 , X 2 , X 3 , X 4 and X 5 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and bromine, provided that at least one of X 1 , X 2 , X 3 , X 4 and X 5 is bromine, (2) at least one alkali or alkaline metal hydroxide, and (3) at least one polymerization initiator, wherein said solvent for the polybromoaryl ether is a non-solvent for alkali or alkaline metal bromides; (B) mixing the materials prepared in (A) to polymerize compound (I) and form the polybromoaryl ether and at least one alkali or alkaline metal bromide by-product; (C) quenching the polymerization of compound (I); (D) filtering insoluble alkali or alkaline metal bromide by-product from the soluble polybromoaryl ether; and (E) mixing said soluble polybromoaryl ether with a non-solvent to form a polybromoaryl ether precipitate having less than 200 ppm alkali or alkaline metal bromide.