A new aromatic diamine bearing ether, trifluoromethyl and anthrone groups, 10,10-bis[4-(4-amino-3-trifluoromethylphenoxy)phenyl]-9(10H)-anthrone (BATFPA) was prepared in three steps from anthrone. BATFPA was reacted with six conventional aromatic dianhydrides inN,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) to form the corresponding cardo fluorinated polyimides (PIs) via the poly(amic acid) (PAA) precursors with inherent viscosities ranging from 0.82 to 1.18 dL/g and thermal imidization. All the PAAs could be cast from DMAc solution and thermally converted into transparent, flexible and tough PI films with tensile strength of 63.5-101.7 MPa, tensile modulus of 1.94-2.85 GPa and elongation at break of 3.7-13.6%. The resulting PIs were predominantly amorphous and exhibited good solubility in dipolar solvents such as DMAc,N,N-dimethylformamide andN-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone at room temperature. In particular, the PI derived from 4,4 '-hexafluoroisopropylidenediphthalic anhydride was even soluble in tetrahydrofuran. These new PIs displayed excellent thermal stability withT(g)of 259-329 degrees C, 5% weight loss temperature (T-d5) of 516-530 degrees C and the residue of 57-64% at 800 degrees C in nitrogen. Meanwhile, these PIs also had low moisture absorptions (0.36-0.83%), low dielectric constants (2.35-2.96 at 1 MHz), good optical transparency with cutoff wavelengths of ultraviolet-visible absorption at 336-408 nm and more than 80% transmittance at 600 nm.