Granted Patent B2

US 7,179,860 · App. 11/033,461 · Granted Feb 20, 2007

Abstract

Claims (39)

1. An organic-inorganic hybrid derived from combining at least one inorganic alkoxide and a sulfonated hydrogenated block copolymer having the general configuration A-B, A-B-A, (A-B)n, (A-B-A)n, (A-B-A)nX, (AB)nX or mixtures thereof, where n is an integer from 2 to 30, and X is coupling agent residue and wherein:

a. prior to hydrogenation each A block is a mono alkenyl arene polymer block and each B block is a controlled distribution copolymer block of at least one conjugated diene and at least one mono alkenyl arene;

b. subsequent to hydrogenation 0–10% of the arene double bonds have been reduced, and at least about 90% of the conjugated diene double bonds have been reduced;

c. each A block having a number average molecular weight between 3,000 and 60,000 and each B block having a number average molecular weight between 30,000 and 300,000;

d. each B block comprises terminal regions adjacent to the A blocks that are rich in conjugated diene units and one or more regions not adjacent to the A blocks that are rich in mono alkenyl arene units;

e. the total amount of mono alkenyl arene in the hydrogenated block copolymer is 20 percent weight to 80 percent weight;

f. the weight percent of mono alkenyl arene in each B block is between 10 percent and 75 percent; and

g. at least 25% of the aromatic rings of the alkenyl arene are sulfonated.

2. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 1 wherein the mono alkenyl arene is styrene and the conjugated diene is selected from the group consisting of isoprene and butadiene.

3. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 1 wherein the conjugated diene is butadiene, and wherein 20 to 80 mol percent of the condensed butadiene units in block B have 1,2-configuration prior to hydrogenation.

4. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 1 wherein block B has a styrene blockiness index of less than 40 percent.

5. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 1 wherein each block B has a center region with a minimum ratio of butadiene units to styrene units.

6. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 1 wherein the mono alkenyl arene is styrene, and wherein the weight percentage of styrene in block B is between 20 percent and 70 percent, and the styrene blockiness index of is less than 10 percent, the styrene blockiness index being the proportion of styrene units in the block B having two styrene neighbors on the polymer chain.

7. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 1 wherein the weight percentage of styrene in the block copolymer is between 60 and 80 weight percent and the molecular weight of the A blocks are between 10.000 and 35,000.

8. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 1 wherein between 25 and 90 percent of the aromatic rings have a sulfonic acid or sulfonate group.

9. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 1 wherein from 25 percent to 70 percent of the aromatic rings have a sulfonic acid or sulfonate group.

10. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 1 wherein from 25 percent to 50 percent of the aromatic rings have a sulfonic acid or sulfonate group.

11. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 1 , wherein said inorganic alkoxide has the formula:

R 1 m MR 2 n R 3 p R 4 (4-m-n-p)

wherein

M is Si, Ti, Zr, or mixtures thereof;

R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 are independently alkyl, substituted alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, acyloxy, alkoxy, halo, amino, mercapto, or epoxy;

m, n and p are independently 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4; and

at least one of R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 is alkoxy.

12. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 11 , wherein M is Si or Zr.

13. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 11 , wherein M is Si.

14. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 11 , wherein said inorganic alkoxide is vinyltriethoxysilane or vinyltrimethoxysilane.

15. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 11 , wherein

R 1 is alkyl, substituted alkyl, alkenyl, acyloxy, halo, amino, mercapto, or epoxy;

R 2 is alkyl, substituted alkyl, alkenyl, acyloxy, alkoxy, halo, amino, mercapto, or epoxy;

R 3 and R 4 are alkoxy; and

m is 1.

16. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 11 , wherein

R 1 is alkyl, substituted alkyl, alkenyl, acyloxy, halo, amino, mercapto, or epoxy;

R 2 , R 3 and R 4 are alkoxy; and

m is 1.

17. A membrane for transferring heat, ions, moisture, polar liquids and/or polar gases, said membrane comprising the organic-inorganic hybrid of claim 1 .

18. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 11 , wherein said sulfonated hydrogenated block copolymer comprises from 20 weight percent to 80 weight percent styrene.

19. An organic-inorganic hybrid according to claim 11 , comprising from 25 mole percent to 80 mole percent of units derived from styrene sulfonate.

Assignments (8)