I was interested in an aryl polyester composed of terepthallic acid and 1,4 benzenedimethanol and whether it would be strong like aryl arimides such as Kevlar and Nomex. Eastman Chemical had been doing some research on this about 20 years ago but I was not able to obtain any information on their work.

It seems that the most practical way to produce the 1,4 benzenedimethanol would be to hydrogenate PET from an ester to an ether.

Copper chromate is usually used to hydrogenate esters to ethers without reducing the benzene ring, although lithium aluminum hydride in ether is used in the laboratory.

I want to ask:

1) Would the terepthallic acid and 1,4 benzenedimethanol polyester be stronger than conventional polyesters?

2) Could the hydrogenation be practical and economical?

3) Is there an electrochemical process based on lithium aluminum hydride in ether that could be scaled up to hydrogenate PET?