A series of novel aromatic poly(ester-etherimide)s with inherent viscosity values of 0.44-0.74 dL g(-1) were prepared by the diphenylchlorophosphate-activated direct polycondensation of an imide ring-containing diacid namely 5-(4-trimellitimidophenoxy)-1-trimellitimido naphthalene (1) with various aromatic dihydroxy compounds in the presence of pyridine and lithium chloride. Owing to comparison of the characterization data, an ester-containing model compound (2) was also synthesized by the reaction of 1 with phenol. The model Compound 2 and the resulted polymers were fully characterized by FT-IR and NMR spectroscopy. The ultraviolet lambda(max) values of the poly(ester-ether-imide)s were also determined. The resulting polymers exhibited an excellent organosolubility in a variety of high polar solvents such as N,N-dimethylacetamide, N,N-dimethylformamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone. They were soluble even in common less polar organic solvents such as pyridine, in-cresol, and tetrahydrofuran on heating. Crystallinity of the polymers was estimated by means of wide-angle X-ray diffraction. The resulted polymers exhibited nearly an amorphous nature. From differential scanning calorimetry thermograms, the polymers showed glass-transition temperatures between 221 and 245 degrees C. Thermal behaviors of the obtained polymers were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, and the 1.0% weight loss temperatures of the poly(ester-ether-imide)s were found to be over 410 degrees C in nitrogen. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 116: 977-985, 2010