A novel fluorinated aromatic diamine monomer, 1,1-bis[4-(4 '-aminophenoxy)phenyl]-1-[3 '',5 ''-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-2,2,2-trifluoroethane(9FTPBA), was synthesized by coupling 3,5 '-bis(trifluoromethyl)-2,2,2-trifluoroacetophenone with 4-nitrophenyl phenyl ether under the catalysis of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, followed reduced by reductive iron and hydrochloric acid. A series of new fluorine-containing polyimides having inherent viscosities of 0.96-1.23 dl/g was synthesized from the novel diamine with various commercially available aromatic dianhydrides using a standard two-stage process with thermal imidization and chemical imidization of poly(amic acid) films. All the fluorinated polyimides were soluble in many polar organic solvents such as NMP, DMAc, DMF, and m-cresol, as well as some of low boiling point organic solvents such as chloroform and acetone. The polymer films have good thermal stability with the glass transition temperature of 223-225 degrees C, the temperature at 5% weight loss of 535-568 degrees C in nitrogen, and have outstanding mechanical properties with the tensile strengths of 68-89 MPa, initial moduli of 2.14-2.19 GPa, and elongations at breakage of 3.2-10.5%. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.