A novel fluorinated aromatic dianhydride, 4,4'-[2,2,2-trifluoro-l-(3,5-ditrifluoroinethylphenyl) ethylidene] diphthalic anhydride (9FDA), was synthesized, which was employed to polycondense with various aromatic diamines, including 4,4'-oxydianiline, 1,4-bis(4-aminophenoxy) benzene, 3,4'-oxydianiline and 1,4-bis(4-amino-2-trifluoromethylphenoxy)benzene to produce a series of fluorinated aromatic polyimides. The fluorinated polyimides obtained had inherent viscosities ranged of 0.61-1.14 dL/g and were easily dissolved both in polar aprotic solvents and in low boiling point common solvents. High quality polyimide films could be prepared by casting the polyimide solution on glass plate followed by thermal baking to remove the organic solvents and volatile completely. Experimental results indicated that the fluorinated polyimides exhibited good thermal stability with glass transition temperature ranged of 245-283 degrees C and temperature at 5% weight loss of 536-546 degrees C. Moreover, the polyimide films showed outstanding mechanical properties with the tensile strengths of 87.7-102.7 MPa and elongation at breaks of 5.0-7.8%, good dielectric properties with low dielectric constants of 2.71-2.97 and low dissipation factor in the range of 0.0013-0.0028. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.