Ion conducting polymers

Abstract

Tetra(alkylene oxide)silicate polymers are obtained by reacting pentacoordinate and hexacoordinate silicon complexes with tetra(alkylene) glycol, generally in accordance with the following reaction, as represented by the hexacoordinate species: ##STR1## The resulting polymers are represented by the following general formula: ##STR2## wherein R.sub.1 through R.sub.5 contain a carbon atom bonded directly to an oxygen atom of the above structure and are independently selected from the group consisting of ##STR3## can be taken together to be --CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 --, with the proviso that at least three or R.sub.1 through R.sub.5 must be, ##STR4## x is 0 or 1, each R.sub.6 is independently selected from H, OH, C.sub.1-6 alkyl, O--C.sub.1-6 alkyl, C.sub.2-6 alkene, C.sub.6-12 aryl, C.sub.1-6 hydroxyalkyl, C.sub.1-6 thioalkyl, C.sub.2-12 alkoxyalkyl, C.sub.3-20 heteraromatic, and combinations thereof, wherein each R group may also contain non-carbon elements such as Si, Sn, Ge, P, and the like; Y is monovalent Z is multivalent eationic, preferably dicationic and n is from 2 to 10,000. Methods for producing such polymers starting with silica or silicon-containing complexes are disclosed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.