Method for preparing a siloxane based polymeric liquid material and materials made therefrom

1. A method for preparing a polymeric liquid material formed of molecular building blocks of core-shell type architecture, the method comprising:

a) charging at least one silicon tetraalkoxide Si(OR) 4 , wherein R is an unbranched or branched alkyl group with up to four carbon atoms; and, optionally, a functional admixture of

one R″-organofunctional trialkoxysilane R″—Si(OR) 3 and, optionally, an R 3 ,R 4 -organofunctional dialkoxysilane R 3 —Si(OR) 2 —R 4 ; or

a mixture of different R″-organofunctional trialkoxysilanes and, optionally, at least one R 3 ,R 4 -organofunctional dialkoxysilane;

 in monomeric or in oligomeric form, into a reaction vessel together with a first stoichiometric amount of acetic anhydride selected according to the desired DP core , in the presence of a catalyst;

b) heating up the reaction mixture provided in a) in a water-free, inert atmosphere under stirring to reach a desired reaction temperature and distilling off resulting acetic acid ester reaction product until the reaction and the flow of distillate stop, thereby forming said hyperbranched polysiloxane core;

c) adding

one R′-organofunctional trialkoxysilane R′—Si(OR) 3 and, optionally, an R 1 ,R 2 -organofunctional dialkoxysilane R 1 —Si(OR) 2 —R 2 , or

a mixture of different R′-organofunctional trialkoxysilanes and, optionally, at least one R 1 ,R 2 -organofunctional dialkoxysilane,

 wherein:

 R′ and R″ are independently selected substituents each representable as L-Z, wherein

L is a linker group selected from the group consisting of —C 6 H 4 —, —C 6 H 4 —CH 2 —, —CH 2 —CH 2 —C 6 H 4 —CH 2 —and —[(CH) 2 ] n — with n=0, 1, 2, 3, 4; and

Z is a terminal functional group selected from the following:

wherein R* is selected from the group consisting of —H, —CH 3 , —C 2 H 5 , —C 3 H 8 , —C 4 H 10 and —C 6 H 5 ;

or Z is —[(CH) 2 ] m —CH 3 with m=0, 1, 2, . . . , 11;

 and

wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 are substituents independently selected from the group consisting of —CH 3 , —C 2 H 5 , —C 6 H 5 , —C 6 H 11 , —CH═CH 2 , —CH 2 —CH 2 —Cl and —C 5 H 5 , with the provision that the triplets (R′, R 1 , R 2 ) and (R″, R 3 , Ra) are not identical;

 together with a second stoichiometric amount of acetic anhydride selected according to the desired DP shell , optionally in the presence of a catalyst, to the hot reaction mixture formed in b) with continuing stirring, thus initiating a selective build-up of said functional siloxane shell onto the core produced in b), whereby further acetic acid ester is formed and distilled over, and continuing the reaction until the distillate flow ceases again;

d) optionally building additional functional layers in the shell by repeating the addition and reaction protocol described in c) at least once;

e) optionally removing low-molecular reaction products and/or residual starting materials in the reaction mixture by vacuum distillation through gradually lowering the pressure inside the reaction vessel and holding a final pressure in the range of 5 to 250 mbar for a period of time between 10 and 120 minutes,

f) cooling down and isolating the polymeric liquid material thus obtained;

wherein a) through e) are carried out in one and the same reaction vessel.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said functional admixture is zero.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein R is methyl or ethyl.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the reaction temperature for steps b) through e) is in the range from 70° C. to 170° C., and the pressure during b) through d) is in the range of 0.1 bar to 2 bar.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the silicon tetraalkoxide Si(OR) 4 is tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) or tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) or a mixture of monomers and oligomers thereof.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein an acetic acid ester reaction product is removed from the system through a distillation column comprising several theoretical plates in such a way that the lower boiling reaction product is separated from higher boiling residual reactants in solution whereby the latter are continuously fed back into the reaction mixture.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the catalyst is:

Ti(OR″) 4 or Zn(II)alkanolates Zn(OR″) 2 , wherein R″=—CH 2 CH 3 , —CH(CH 3 ) 2 , —CH 2 CH 2 CH 3 , —C(CH 3 ) 3 , —CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 CH 3 , or

the catalyst is Ti(O—Si(CH 3 ) 3 ) 4 , wherein and the catalyst amount is between 0.01 and 1.5% on a mol basis of total alkoxysilane precursor used.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein R′ is:

i) R′=—C 6 H 5 , —CH═CH 2 ,

ii) R′=L-Z and L is —CH 2 — and Z=—[(CH) 2 ] p —CH 3 with p=0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14,

iii) R′=L-Z and L=—CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 — (n-propyl) and Z=—Br, —Cl, —I, —SH, —OH, —NH 2 , —NH—(BOC), —NH—(FMOC), -(2-oxiranyl), -methoxy-(2-oxiranyl), —N 3 , —SO 3 R, —PO 3 R 2 , —acrylate, -methacrylate, -ethacrylate, -propacrylate, -butacrylate, or

iv) R′=L-Z and L=CH 2 , Z=vinyl, -acrylate, -methacrylate, -ethacrylate, -propacrylate, -butacrylate,

and wherein R 1 and R 2 are equal and selected from the group consisting of —CH 3 ,

C 6 H 5 , and —CH═CH 2 or wherein R 1 =—CH 3 and R 2 =—CH═CH 2 .

9. A polymeric liquid material, the material being formed of molecular building blocks of core-shell type architecture, each building block consisting of a hyperbranched polysiloxane core and a functional siloxane shell peripherally attached to said core,

the material containing less than 0.5 mass percent hydroxy moieties (Si—OH),

the core having a degree of polymerization DP core in the range of 1.3 to 2.7,

the shell being formed of R′-substituted siloxane moieties and optionally R1-,R2-substituted siloxane moieties and having a degree of polymerization DP shell in the range of 0.3 to 2.5,

wherein the total silicon to free hydrolysable alkoxy molar ratio in the material is 1:1.25 to 1:2.75,

wherein the material has a viscosity in the range of 10 to 100,000 cP,

and wherein the core is composed of non-organofunctional siloxane moieties comprising

non-organofunctional terminally bonded siloxane moieties (Q 1 speciation) of the general formula

and/or

non-organofunctional disiloxane moieties (Q 2 speciation) of the general formula

and/or

non-organofunctional trisiloxane moieties (Q 3 speciation) of the general formula

and/or

non-organofunctional tetrasiloxane moieties (Q 4 speciation) of the general formula

and wherein the shell is composed of:

monoorganofunctional terminally bonded siloxane moieties (T 1 speciation) of the general formula

and/or

monoorganofunctional disiloxane moieties (T 2 speciation) of the general formula

and/or

monoorganofunctional trisiloxane (T 3 speciation) moieties of the general formula

and, optionally,

terminally bonded diorganofunctional siloxane (D 1 speciation) moieties of the general formula

and/or

diorganofunctional disiloxane (D 2 speciation) moieties of the general formula

wherein R, R′, R 1 and R 2 are as defined in claim 1 .

10. The polymeric liquid material according to claim 9 , wherein the relative atomic ratio of T to Q species is in the range 0.03:1 to 1:1.

11. A hydrolysis product, wherein the product comprises a reaction product of the polymeric liquid material according to claim 9 and a predetermined amount of water or a predetermined amount of a water-solvent mixture.

12. A method comprising:

providing the polymeric liquid material according to claim 9

in a coating or adhesive formulation or as a coupling agent to mediate incorporation of fillers into polymer matrices via the polymeric liquid material, or

as a precursor for sol-gel chemical technology and preparing organofunctional gels and inorganic/organic nanocomposite materials as well as aerogels and xerogels derived thereof.

13. A method comprising:

providing hydrolysis product according to claim 11 in a coating or adhesive formulation or as a coupling agent to mediate the incorporation of fillers into polymer matrices via the polymeric liquid material, or as a precursor for sol-gel chemical technology, and preparing organofunctional gels and inorganic/organic nanocomposite materials as well as aerogels and xerogels derived thereof.

14. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the reaction temperature for b) through e) is in the range of 100° C. to 150° C. and the pressure during b) through d) is in the range of 0.5 bar to 1.4 bar.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the reaction temperature for b) through e) is in the range from 120° C. to 140° C. and the pressure during b) through d) is in the range of 0.9 bar to 1.2 bar.

16. The polymeric liquid material according to claim 9 , wherein

the core has a degree of polymerization DP core in the range of 1.5 to 2.5, and

the shell is formed of R′-substituted siloxane moieties and optionally R1-, R2-substituted siloxane moieties and has a degree of polymerization DP shell in the range of 1.0 to 2.3.

17. The polymeric liquid material according to claim 16 , wherein

the shell is formed of R′-substituted siloxane moieties and R1-, R2-substituted siloxane moieties.

18. The polymeric liquid material according to claim 10 , wherein the relative atomic ratio of T to Q species is in the range 0.03:1 to 0.75:1.

19. The polymeric liquid material according to claim 17 , wherein the relative atomic ratio of T to Q species is in the range 0.05:1 to 0.5:1.