Copolymers suitable for making membranes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10189943-B2
Application number	US-201515123734-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 2, 2015
Priority date	Mar 6, 2014
Publication date	Jan 29, 2019
Grant date	Jan 29, 2019

Abstract

Copolymer comprising polyarylene ether blocks and hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks, wherein said hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks comprise polyisobutene blocks.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A copolymer, comprising polyarylene ether blocks and hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks,
wherein:
said hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks comprise polyisobutene blocks; and
said hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks comprise polyisobutene blocks with terminal phenolic ether groups, and said phenolic ether groups are etherified with polyalkyleneoxides.

2. The copolymer according to claim 1 , wherein said hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks comprise polyisobutene blocks with terminal ether groups.

3. The copolymer according to claim 1 , wherein said hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks comprise polyisobutene blocks with terminal phenolic ether groups.

4. The copolymer according to claim 2 , wherein said ether groups are obtained by alkoxylation of a hydroxy terminated polyisobutene with ethylene oxide or propylene oxide or mixtures thereof.

5. The copolymer according to claim 1 , wherein said hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks comprise structural units according to formula (I):

in which n=2 to 1000.

6. The copolymer according to claim 1 , wherein said hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks comprise blocks according to formula (II):

wherein:
n=2 to 1000;
m=1 to 300; and
said blocks are at least partly covalently bound to polyarylene ether blocks.

7. The copolymer according to claim 1 , having a structure (III):

wherein:
n=2 to 1000;
m=1 to 300; and
p=0.003 to 0.25.

8. A process for making the copolymer according to claim 1 , the process comprising reacting aromatic bishalogeno compounds and aromatic biphenols or salts thereof in the presence of at least one base and in the presence of hydrophilic-hydrophobic block copolymers comprising polyisobutene blocks.

9. A membrane, comprising a block copolymer comprising polyarylene ether blocks and hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks, wherein said hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks comprise polyisobutene blocks.

10. The membrane according to claim 9 , wherein said hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks comprise polyisobutene blocks with terminal ether groups.

11. The membrane according to claim 9 , wherein said hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks comprise polyisobutene blocks with terminal phenolic ether groups.

12. The membrane according to claim 9 , wherein said hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks comprise polyisobutene blocks with terminal phenolic ether groups and wherein said phenol groups are etherified with polyalkyleneoxides.

13. The membrane according to claim 10 , wherein said ether groups are obtained by alkoxylation with ethylene oxide or propylene oxide or mixtures thereof.

14. The membrane according to claim 9 , wherein said hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks comprise structural units according to formula (I):

in which n=2 to 1000.

15. The membrane according to claim 9 , wherein said hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks comprise blocks according to formula (II):

wherein:
n=2 to 1000;
m=1 to 300; and
said blocks are at least partly covalently bound to polyarylene ether blocks.

16. The membrane according to claim 9 , having a structure (III):

wherein:
n=2 to 1000;
m=1 to 300; and
p=0.003 to 0.25.

17. The membrane according to claim 9 , wherein said hydrophilic-hydrophobic blocks are obtained by a process comprising:
a) polymerizing isobutene or an isobutene-containing monomer mixture in the presence of a Lewis acid and of an initiator;
b) terminating the polymerization with a mixture of at least one phenol and at least one Lewis acid and/or at least one Brønsted acid; and
c) derivatizing terminal phenol groups by alkoxylation.

18. The membrane according to claim 9 , wherein said polyarylene ether blocks correspond to formula (IV):

wherein:
t, q: each independently represent 0, 1, 2 or 3;
Q, T, Y: each independently represent a chemical bond or group selected from the group consisting of —O—, —S—, —SO 2 —, S═O, C═O, —N═N—, and —CR a R b — where R a and R b are each independently a hydrogen atom or a C 1 -C 12 -alkyl, C 1 -C 12 -alkoxy or C 6 -C 18 -aryl group, where at least one of Q, T and Y is not —O—, and at least one of Q, T and Y is —SO 2 —; and
Ar, Ar 1 : each independently represent an arylene group having from 6 to 18 carbon atoms.

19. The membrane according to claim 9 , wherein said polyarylene ether is a polysulfone, a polyethersulfone or a polyphenylenesulfone.

20. The membrane according to claim 9 , comprising said block copolymer in an amount of 0.01% by weight to 100% by weight.

21. The membrane according to claim 9 , wherein said membrane is a UF, MF, RO, FO or NF membrane.

22. A process for filtering water, the process comprising contacting water with the membrane according to claim 9 .

23. A membrane element, comprising membranes according to claim 9 .

24. A membrane module, comprising membranes according to claim 9 .

25. A filtration system, comprising membrane modules according to claim 24 .

Assignees

• Basf Se

Inventors

• Weber Martin
• Csihony Szilard
• Weiss Thomas

Classifications

• C02F1/445

  by forward osmosis · CPC title

• C08G65/08 Primary

  Saturated oxiranes · CPC title

• B01D71/52

  Polyethers · CPC title

• B01D61/002

  Forward osmosis or direct osmosis · CPC title

• B01D71/68

  Polysulfones; Polyethersulfones · CPC title