Because of their excellent thermal, chemical and physical properties, as well as high gas selectivity, polyimides are promising polymers for gas separation membranes. However, their commercial use is limited due to their relatively poor solubility and permeability. Here, 5-(2,5-dioxotetrahydrofuryl)-3methyl-cyclohexane-l,2-dicarboxylic anhydride (DOCDA) was used to improve the solubility of the polyimides, and various methyl-substituted diamines were introduced to increase their permeability, due to the effect of the bulky methyl groups. Polyimides based on DOCDA (DOCDA-PIs), synthesized via one-step solution polymerization, exhibited high solubility in common organic solvents and improved gas permeability due to the non-planar structure of DOCDA and the presence of methyl groups, which disturbed chain packing, an effect that was correlated with increased fractional free volume (FFV) and dspacing. Co-polyimides based on DOCDA, DOCDA-coPIs, exhibited high gas permeability and CO2/CH4 and O-2/N-2 selectivity, comparable to commercial polymeric membranes. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.