Eight novel polyurethanes based on 2,2'-[1,4-phenylenebis(nitrilomethylylidene)]diphenol and 2,2-[4,4'methylene-di-2-methylphenylene-1,1'-bis(nitrilomethylylidene) ]diphenol acting as hard segments with two aromatic and two aliphatic diisocyanates (4,4'-diphenytmethane diisocyanate, toluene 2,4-diisocyanate, isophorone diisocyanate, and hexamethylene diisocyanate) were prepared and characterized with Fourier transform infrared, UV spectrophotometry, fluorescence spectroscopy, H-1-NMR and C-13-NMR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential thermal analysis. All the polyurethanes contained domains of semicrystalline and amorphous structures, as indicated by X-ray diffraction. The acoustic properties and solubility parameters were calculated with the group contribution method. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.