Aromatic polyamides based on a novel bis(ether-carboxylic acid) were synthesized by the direct phosphorylation condensation method. 1,4-Bis(4-carboxyphenoxy)-2,5-di-tert-butylbenzene was combined with various diamines containing flexible linkages and side substituents to render a set of eight novel aromatic polyamides. The polymers were produced with high yields and moderate to high inherent viscosities (0.49-1.32 dL/g) that corresponded to weight-average and number-average molecular weights (by gel permeation chromatography) of 31,000-80,000 and 19,000-50,000, respectively. Except for a single example, the polyamides were essentially amorphous and soluble in a variety of common solvents such as cyclohexanone, dioxane, and tetrahydrofuran. They showed glass-transition temperatures of 250-295 degreesC (by differential scanning calorimetry) and 10% weight loss temperatures above 460 degreesC, as revealed by thermogravimetric analysis in nitrogen. Polymer films, obtained by casting from N,N-dimethylacetamide solutions, exhibited good mechanical properties, with tensile strengths of 83-111 MPa and tensile moduli of 2.0-2.2 GPa. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.