A series of novel fluorine containing aromatic polyamides were synthesized by the direct polycondensation of various fluorine containing aromatic diamines and commercially available 5-t-butyl isophthalic acid. These Polyamides have good solubility in several organic solvents such as dimethylformamide, N,N-dimethylacetamide, 1-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone, dimethyl sulfoxide, and tetrahydrofuran. The synthesized polymers exhibited inherent viscosities up to 0.93 dL/g and M-w, up to 1,52,000 with PDI of 2.49. The polyamides exhibited good thermal stability up to 489 degrees C for 10% weight loss in nitrogen and high glass transition temperature up to 273 degrees C. Dynamic mechanical analysis showed a very good retention of storage modulus up to the glass transition temperature. The tan 6 peak value at 1 Hz was used to calculate the T-g and these values are in good agreement with differential scanning calorimetry data. The polyamide films were flexible with tensile strength up to 72 MPa, elongations at break up to 14%, and modulus of elasticity up to 1.39 GPa depending on the exact repeating unit structure. X-ray diffraction measurements indicate that these polyamides are semicrystalline. Rheology study showed same trend of melt viscosity behavior with different shear rate for all polymers. Water absorption study indicates the hydrophobic nature of the polymer. (c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.