Granted Patent B2

US 7,138,537 · App. 10/405,721 · Granted Nov 21, 2006

Abstract

Claims (26)

1. A composition of matter comprising at least one silane coupling agent for coupling an elastomer and a filler wherein said silane comprises at least one hydrolysable group that, upon compounding said silane with said elastomer and filler, is released to yield a compound that improves downstream processability of the compounded composition or the properties of the final rubber product or both; and wherein said silane coupling agent is selected from the group consisting of silanes whose individual structures are represented by at least one of the following general formulae:

[J—S—G 1 —(SiX 2 X 3 )][—Y 2 —(X 2 Si—G 1 —S—J)] m —X 1 ;  Formula 1:

[X 1 X 2 X 3 Si—G 2 —S x —G 3 —Si(X 2 X 3 )][—Y 2 —(X 2 Si)—G 2 —S x —G 3 —(SiX 1 X 2 X 3 )] m —X 1 ;  Formula 2:

[X 1 X 2 X 3 Si—G 2 —S x —G 3 —Si(X 2 X 3 )][—Y 2 —(X 2 X 3 Si)—G 2 —S x —G 3 —(SiX 2 X 3 )] n —X 1 ; and  Formula 3:

[(—Y 2 —) y/2 (X 2 3−h Si)—G 1 —S—J] m [(—Y 2 —) j/2 (X 2 3−j Si)—G 2 —S x —G 3 —(SiX 2 3−k )(—Y 2 —) k/2 ] n   Formula 4:

wherein, in formulae 1 through 4:

each occurrence of the subscript, h, is independently an integer from 1 to 3;

each separate occurrence of the subscripts, j and k, is independently an integer from 0 to 3, with the proviso that j+k>0;

each occurrence of the subscript, m, is independently an integer from 1 to 1000;

each occurrence of the subscript, n, is independently an integer from 1 to 1000;

each occurrence of the subscript, x, is independently an integer from 2 to 20;

each occurrence of X 1 is independently selected from the group of hydrolysable moieties consisting of —Y 1 , —OH, —OR 1 , and R 1 C(═O)O—, wherein each occurrence of R 1 is independently any hydrocarbon fragment obtained by removal of one hydrogen atom from a hydrocarbon having from 1 to 20 carbon atoms, and R 1 includes aryl groups and any branched or straight chain alkyl, alkenyl, arenyl, or aralkyl groups;

each occurrence of X 2 and X 3 is independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, R 1 , and X 1 ;

each occurrence of G 1 , G 2 , and G 3 is independently selected from the group consisting of hydrocarbon fragments obtained by removal of one hydrogen atom of any of the groups listed above for R 1 ;

each occurrence of J is independently selected from the group consisting of R 1 C(═O)—, R 1 C(═S)—, R 1 2 P(═O)—, R 1 2 P(═S)—, R 1 S(═O)—, and R 1 S(═O) 2 —, wherein each separate occurrence of R 1 is as defined above;

each occurrence of Y 1 is independently —O—G—(O—G—) p OR or —O—G—(O—G—) p OH and each occurrence of Y 2 is independently —O—G—(O—G—) q O—,

each occurrence of the subscript, p, is independently an integer from 1 to 100;

each occurrence of the subscript, q, is independently an integer from 1 to 100;

each occurrence of G is independently selected from the group consisting of hydrocarbon fragments obtained by removal of one hydrogen atom of any of the groups listed above for R 1 ; and

each occurrence of R is independently selected from the group consisting of the members listed above for R 1 .

2. The composition of claim 1 wherein G 1 , G 2 , and G 3 are independently selected from the group consisting of terminal straight-chain alkyls further substituted terminally at the opposite end and their beta-substituted analogs; a structure derivable from methallyl chloride; any of the structures derivable from divinylbenzene; any of the structures derivable from dipropenylbenzene; any of the structures derivable from butadiene; any of the structures derivable from piperylene; any of the structures derivable from isoprene; any of the isomers of —CH 2 CH 2 -norbornyl- or —CH 2 CH 2 -cyclohexyl-; any of the diradicals obtainable from norbornane, cyclohexane, cyclopentane, tetrahydrodicyclopentadiene, or cyclododecene by loss of two hydrogen atoms; any of the structures derivable from limonene; any of the monovinyl-containing structures derivable from trivinylcyclohexane; any of the monounsaturated structures derivable from myrcene containing a trisubstituted C═C; and any of the monounsaturated structures derivable from myrcene lacking a trisubstituted C═C.

3. The composition of claim 2 wherein G 1 , G 2 , and G 3 are independently selected from the group consisting of —CH 2 —, —CH 2 CH 2 —, —CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 —, —CH 2 CH(CH 3 )CH 2 —, and any of the diradicals obtained by 2,4 or 2,5 disubstitution of norbornane-derived structures.

4. The composition of claim 1 wherein X 1 is selected from the group consisting of methoxy, ethoxy, propoxy, isopropoxy, butoxy, phenoxy, benzyloxy, hydroxy, chloro, and acetoxy.

5. The composition of claim 1 wherein X 2 and X 3 are independently selected from the group consisting of methoxy, ethoxy, isopropoxy, methyl, ethyl, phenyl, and the higher straight-chain alkyls.

6. The composition of claim 1 wherein X 1 , X 2 , and X 3 are all the same alkoxy group.

7. The composition of claim 1 wherein G is selected from the group consisting of terminal straight-chain alkyls further substituted terminally at the opposite end, their beta-substituted analogs, and analogs with more than one methyl substitution; any of the structures derivable from divinylbenzene; any of the structures derivable from dipropenylbenzene; any of the structures derivable from butadiene; any of the structures derivable from piperylene; any of the structures derivable from isoprene; any of the monovinyl-containing structures derivable from trivinylcyclohexane; any of the monounsaturated structures derivable from myrcene containing a trisubstituted C═C; and any of the monounsaturated structures derivable from myrcene lacking a trisubstituted C═C.

Assignments (21)