Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Poly(arylene ether)s for Gas Separation and Water Desalination Membranes Gurtej Singh Narang Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Macromolecular Science and Engineering Judy Riffle, Chair S. Richard Turner Richey Davis Benny Freeman Kevin Edgar 09/21/2017 Blacksburg, VA Keywords: gas separation, water desalination, electrodialysis, poly(arylene ether ketone), phosphine oxide, poly(2,6 dimethylphenylene oxide), polymer blends, UV crosslinking, poly(phenylene ether sulfone), post sulfonation, fixed charge concentration Copyright 2017 by Gurtej Singh Narang