A series of poly(ether in-tide)s (PEIs) with light colors and good mechanical properties were synthesized from 2,5-bis(3,4-dicarboxyphenoxy)biphenyl dianhydride and various aromatic ether-diamines via a conventional two-step polymerization technique that included ring-opening polyaddition at room temperature to poly(amic acid)s (PAAs) followed by thermal imidization. The precursor PAAs had inherent viscosities ranging from 0.71 to 1.19 dL/g and were solution-cast and thermally cyclodehydrated to flexible mid tough PEI films. All of the PEI films were essentially colorless, with ultraviolet-visible absorption cutoff wavelengths between 377 and 385 nm and yellowness index values ranging from 10.5 to 19.9. These PEIs showed high thermal stabilities with glass-transition temperatures of 206-262 degrees C and decomposition temperatures (at 10% weight loss) higher than 478 degrees C. They also showed low dielectric constants of 3.39-3.72 (at 1 MHz) and low water absorptions below 0.85 wt%. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 113: 3993-4002, 2009