Patent ID: 7786245

Claim:
A process for preparing a polyarylene ether ketone, comprising: a) reacting an aromatic dihalogen compound with a bisphenol and/or a halophenol in the presence of alkali metal carbonate and/or alkaline earth metal carbonate in a high-boiling aprotic solvent to give a polyarylene ether ketone, b) wet-comminuting the solidified reaction mixture of step a) in the presence of water, to obtain a wet-comminuted reaction mixture; c) washing the wet-comminuted reaction mixture of step b) with an organic solvent, to obtain a product, d) washing the product of step c) with water, to obtain a washed product, and e) drying the washed product, c) and d) being referred to as two-stage washing, wherein steps b), c) and d) are performed in this order, wherein the wet-comminuted reaction mixture is fed to the two-stage washing with a residual moisture content of 1 to 12% by weight; and wherein the polyarylene ether ketone has a Na content of at most 15 ppm, a K content of <1 ppm, and a S content of at most 180 ppm.