High refractive index compositions useful for intraocular lenses and methods for making same

1. An intraocular lens for surgical implantation into a mammalian eye having a deformable lens body including an optically clear material comprising:

a silicone polymer; and

a silica reinforcer present in an amount effective to reinforce said polymer, the silica reinforcer including at least one aryl group effective to increase the refractive index of the silica reinforcer relative to a similar silica reinforcer without at least one aryl group, wherein the silica reinforcer has a refractive index greater than about 1.50.

2. The intraocular lens of claim 1 wherein the silicone polymer includes aryl groups.

3. The intraocular lens of claim 1 wherein the silicone polymer is a crosslinked polysiloxane.

4. The intraocular lens of claim 1 wherein the silicone polymer is a crosslinked copolymer of (1) at least one polysiloxane including aryl groups and (2) at least one crosslinker component.

5. The intraocular lens of claim 2 wherein said aryl groups are selected from the class consisting of phenyl, substituted phenyl groups, styryl, substituted styryl groups and mixtures thereof.

6. The intraocular lens of claim 1 wherein the silica reinforcer includes covalently bonded silicone-containing moieties including at least one aryl group.

7. The intraocular lens of claim 4 wherein the at least one polysiloxane has the formula:

wherein each R is independently selected from the group consisting of alkyl radicals, substituted alkyl radicals, cycloalkyl radicals, substituted cycloalkyl radicals, aryl radicals and substituted aryl radicals, each R 1 is inddpendently selected from the group consisting of divalent hydrocarbon radicals and substituted divalent hydrocarbon radicals, each R 2 is independently selected from the group consisting of aryl radicals and substituted aryl radicals, each R is independently selected from the group consisting of monovalent hydrocarbon radicals having a carbon-carbon multiple bond and substituted hydrocarbon radicals having a carbon-carbon multiple bond, x is an integer in a range of 0 to about 500, and y is an integer in a range of about 6 to about 500.

8. A composition comprising:

a silicone polymer; and

a silicone reinforcer present in an amount effective to reinforce said polymer, the silica reinforcer including at least one aryl group effective to increase the refractive index of the silica reinforcer relative to a similar silica reinforcer without at least one aryl group,

wherein the silicone polymer includes at least one polysiloxane of the formula:

wherein each R is independently selected from the group consisting of alkyl radicals, substituted alkyl radicals, cycloalkyl radicals, substituted cycloalkyl radicals, aryl radicals and substituted aryl radicals, each R 1 is independently selected from the group consisting of divalent hydrocarbon radicals and substituted divalent hydrocarbon radicals, each R 2 is independently selected from the group consisting of aryl radicals and substituted aryl radicals, each R 3 is independently selected from the group consisting of monovalent hydrocarbon radicals having a carbon-carbon multiple bond and substituted hydrocarbon radicals having a carbon-carbon multiple bond, x is an integer in a range of 0 to about 500, and y is an integer in a range of about 6 to about 500.

9. The composition of claim 8 wherein the silicon polymer includes aryl groups.

10. The composition of claim 8 wherein the silicone polymer is a crosslinked polysiloxane.

11. The composition of claim 8 wherein the silica reinforcer has a refractive index of about 1.46 or higher.

12. The composition of claim 8 wherein the silicone polymer is a crosslinked copolymer of (1) at least one polysiloxane including aryl groups and (2) at least one crosslinker component.

13. The composition of claim 8 wherein said aryl groups are selected from the class consisting of phenyl, substituted phenyl groups, styryl, substituted styryl groups and mixtures thereof.

14. The composition of claim 8 wherein the silica reinforcer includes covalently bonded silicon-containing moieties including at least one aryl group.

15. The composition of claim 14 wherein the moeities include 1 to 3 aryl groups per silicone atom.

16. A polysiloxane compound having the following formula:

wherein each R is independently selected from the group consisting of alkyl radicals, substituted alkyl radicals, cycloalkyl radicals, substituted cycloalkyl radicals, aryl radicals and substituted aryl radicals, each R 1 is independently selected from the group consisting of divalent hydrocarbon radicals and substituted divalent hydrocarbon radicals, each R 2 is independently selected from the group consisting of aryl radicals and substituted aryl radicals, each R 3 is independently selected from the group consisting of monovalent hydrocarbon radicals having a carbon-carbon multiple bond and substituted hydrocarbon radicals having a carbon-carbon multiple bond, x is an integer in a range of 0 to about 500, and y is an integer in a range of about 6 to about 500.

17. The compound of claim 16 , wherein each —R 1 —R 2 is independently selected from the group consisting of styryl and substituted styryl radicals.

18. The compound of claim 16 , wherein x/y is less than about 4.

19. The compound of claim 16 , wherein each R is methyl.

20. The compound of claim 16 , wherein each R 1 is independently selected from the group consisting of ethylene radical and methylene radical.

21. The compound of claim 16 , wherein each R 2 is phenyl.

22. The compound of claim 16 , wherein each R 3 is vinyl.

23. The intraocular lens of claim 1 , wherein the silica reinforcer has a refractive index greater than or equal to about 1.47.

24. An intraocular lens for surgical implantation into a mammalian eye having a deformable lens body including an optically clear material comprising:

a silicone polymer; and

a silica reinforcer present in an amount effective to reinforce said polymer, the silica reinforcer including at least one aryl group effective to increase the refractive index of the silica reinforcer relative to a similar silica reinforcer without at least one aryl group, wherein the silica reinforcer has a refractive index greater than about 1.47; and

wherein the silicone polymer has a refractive index, and wherein the refractive index of the silica reinforcer is within about 0.015 of the refractive index of the silicone polymer.

25. The intraocular lens of claim 24 wherein the silicone polymer includes aryl groups.

26. The intraocular lens of claim 24 wherein the silicone polymer is a crosslinked polysiloxane.

27. The intraocular lens of claim 24 wherein the silicone polymer is a crosslinked copolymer of (1) at least one polysiloxane including aryl groups and (2) at least one crosslinker component.

28. The intraocular lens of claim 25 wherein said aryl groups are selected from the class consisting of phenyl, substituted phenyl groups, styryl, substituted styryl groups and mixtures thereof.

29. The intraocular lens of claim 24 wherein the silica reinforcer includes covalently bonded silicone-containing moieties including at least one aryl group.

30. The intraocular lens of claim 27 wherein the at least one polysiloxane has the formula:

wherein each R is independently selected from the group consisting of alkyl radicals, substituted alkyl radicals, cycloalkyl radicals, substituted cycloalkyl radicals, aryl radicals and substituted aryl radicals, each R 1 is independently selected from the group consisting of divalent hydrocarbon radicals and substituted divalent hydrocarbon radicals, each R 2 is independently selected from the group consisting of aryl radicals and substituted aryl radicals, each R 3 is independently selected from the group consisting of monovalent hydrocarbon radicals having a carbon-carbon multiple bond and substituted hydrocarbon radicals having a carbon-carbon multiple bond, x is an integer in a range of 0 to about 500, and y is an integer in a range of about 6 to about 500.