Polycarbonate nanocomposites

1. A method for making a polycarbonate nanocomposite, comprising:

reacting an initial mixture comprising at least one dihydroxy compound, at least one sulfobenzoic acid salt, and an organically modified clay to obtain an intermediate mixture;

adding at least one activated carbonate to the intermediate mixture; and

reacting the intermediate mixture with the activated carbonate to obtain the polycarbonate nanocomposite.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dihydroxy compound has the structure of Formula (I):

wherein R 1 through R 8 are each independently selected from hydrogen, halogen, nitro, cyano, C 1 -C 20 alkyl, C 4 -C 20 cycloalkyl, and C 6 -C 20 aryl; and A is selected from a bond, —O—, —S—, —SO 2 —, C 1 -C 12 alkyl, C 6 -C 20 aromatic, and C 6 -C 20 cycloaliphatic;

the sulfobenzoic acid salt has the structure of Formula (II):

wherein M is an alkali metal; Ar″ is an aromatic ring; Q″ is selected from alkoxycarbonyl, halogen, nitro, amide, sulfone, sulfoxide, imine, and cyano; and n″ is a whole number from zero up to the number of replaceable hydrogen groups on the aromatic ring Ar″; and

the activated carbonate has the structure of Formula (III):

wherein Q and Q′ are independently selected from alkoxycarbonyl, halogen, nitro, amide, sulfone, sulfoxide, imine, and cyano; Ar and Ar′ are independently aromatic rings; n and n′ are independently whole numbers from zero up to the number of replaceable hydrogen groups substituted on the aromatic rings Ar and Ar′, wherein (n+n′)≧1; p and p′ are integers; and R and R′ are independently selected from alkyl, substituted alkyl, cycloalkyl, alkoxy, aryl, alkylaryl having from 1 to 30 carbon atoms, cyano, nitro, halogen, and carboalkoxy.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the organically modified clay is formed in situ during the reaction of the initial mixture.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initial mixture is reacted at a temperature of from about 190° C. to about 230° C.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initial mixture is reacted for a period of from about 60 minutes to about 120 minutes.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initial mixture is reacted at a pressure of from about 0.5 bar to about 1.5 bar.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pressure is reduced to a range of from about 50 millibar to about 200 millibar after the activated carbonate is added.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the temperature is increased to a temperature of from about 250° C. to about 280° C. while the intermediate mixture and the activated carbonate are reacted.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pressure is reduced to a pressure of from about 0.01 millibar to about 2 millibar while the intermediate mixture and the activated carbonate are reacted.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate mixture and the activated carbonate are reacted for a period of from about 30 minutes to about 75 minutes.

11. The method of claim 2 , wherein Ar″ is phenyl and n″ is zero.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the resulting nanocomposite comprises:

at least one sulfonated telechelic polycarbonate; and

at least one organically modified clay;

wherein the sulfonated telechelic polycarbonate comprises sulfonate end groups and structural units derived from at least one dihydroxy compound and at least one diaryl carbonate ester; and

wherein the sulfonated telechelic polycarbonate comprises at least 70 mole percent of sulfonate end groups, with respect to the total end groups present.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the resulting nanocomposite has a weight average molecular weight of greater than 30,000 as measured by gel permeation chromatography versus polystyrene standards.