A novel monomer of tetrachloroterephthaloyl chloride (TCTPC) was prepared by the chlorination of terephthaloyl chloride catalyzed by ferric chloride at 175-180 degrees C for 10 h, and confirmed by FTIR, MS, and elemental analysis. A series of new polychloro substituted polyamides with inherent viscosities of 1.17-1.28 dL/g have been prepared from TCTPC with various aromatic diamines. All the polyamdes were amorphous and readily soluble in polar solvents such as NMP, DMAc, DMF, and DMSO at room temperature, and could afford flexible and tough films via solution casting. The cast films exhibited good mechanical properties with tensile strengths of 83.6-106.8 MPa, elongations at breakage of 3.9-7.1%, and tensile modulus of 2.28-3.98 GPa. These poluamide films also exhibited good thermal stability with glass transition temperature of 250-284 degrees C, the temperature at 5% weight loss of 470-504 degrees C and high char yields of 57.8-59.7% in nitrogen. (c) Wiley Periodicals, Inc.