Polycyclic polymers containing pendant ion conducting moieties

An ion conducting membrane comprising an addition polymer comprising polycyclic repeating units having the structural formula:

• wherein X represents —CH2—,—CH2CH2—, O or S;
• n is an integer from 0 to 5 inclusive;
• R1 to R4 independently represent hydrogen or a pendant group selected from linear and branched (C1 to C20) alkyl, linear and branched (C1 to C20) haloalkyl, or a pendant ion conducting moiety and salts thereof selected from sulfonic acid, phosphoric acid, carboxylic acid moieties and combinations thereof, represented by the formulae:
• -(A)q-SO3H
• -(A)q-OP(O)(OH)(OR)
• -(A)q-P(O)(OH)(OR)
• —(CH2)mC(O)OH
• wherein A is a spacer moiety represented —(CH2)m—, —(CH2)mO—, —(CH2)mO(CH2)m—, —O(CH2)m—, —(CH2)mNR15(CH2)m—, —(CH2)m-aryl-, —O(CH2)m-aryl-, —(CH2)mO(CH2)m-aryl-, -aryl-O(CH2)m—, -aryl-NR15(CH2)m—, —(C(R16)2)m(C(R16)2)mO(C(R17)2)a—,
• wherein aryl represents phenyl, naphthyl, and anthracenyl, R is selected from hydrogen, linear and branched (C1 to C10) alkyl, linear and branched (C1 to C10)haloalkyl, and substituted and unsubstituted (C6-C16) aryl;
• R15 independently is selected from hydrogen and (C1 to C5) alkyl;
• R16 independently is selected from hydrogen, halogen, (C1 to C5) alkyl, and (C1 to C5) haloalkyl R17 independently is selected from hydrogen and halogen;
• R18 is selected from hydrogen and (C1 to C10) alkyl and (C1 to C5) haloalkyl;
• a is 2 to 6;
• m independently is 0 to 4 and q is 0 or 1, subject to the proviso that for at least a portion of such repeating units, at least one of R1 to R4 is a phosphoric acid moiety not directly connected to an oxygen atom on said spacer moiety.