A series of polyamides, poly (xanthone-amide)s (PXAs) were prepared by direct polycondensation of 2,7-diaminoxanthone with various available aliphatic and aromatic dicarboxylic acids. The monomer and all the PXAs were characterized by FT-IR, 1H NMR and 13C NMR. The prepared polyamides showed inherent viscosities in the range of 0.41-0.68 dL g-1 in NMP at 25 øC. The PXAs with low crystallinity were soluble in aprotic polar solvents such as DMF, NMP, DMSO, and DMAc at room temperature. These PXAs showed low glass transition temperatures (Tg) (200-310 øC) and high thermal stability, the 10 % weight loss temperature was up to 432 øC under nitrogen. These polymers exhibited strong UV-Vis absorption maxima at 301-316 nm in NMP solutions. Their photoluminescence showed fluorescence emission maxima around 433-444 and 503-521 nm for aliphatic and aromatic polyamides, respectively. The resulting polymers were analyzed for their antioxidant activities using DPPH assay and the antibacterial activities against some bacterial strains (S.aureus, B. subtilis, E. coli and P. aeruginosa). The results revealed that the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of PXAs were more than xanthone nucleus and used standard, respectively. It showed that these polymers can be used in pharmaceutical and food industries (food packaging).
