Polyarylene ether sulfone-polymers for membrane applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10265663-B2
Application number	US-201414917488-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 4, 2014
Priority date	Sep 9, 2013
Publication date	Apr 23, 2019
Grant date	Apr 23, 2019

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of forming a polyarylene ether sulfone polymer by converting a reaction mixture (R G ) comprising a dihalogen component (A1), a dihydroxy component (B1) and potassium carbonate (C1) having a volume-average particle size of <25 μm. The present invention further relates to the polyarylene ether sulfone polymers obtainable by said method, to products obtainable from said polyarylene ether sulfone polymer and to membranes formed from said polyarylene ether sulfone polymer.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of forming a polyarylene ether sulfone polymer, the method comprising reacting a reaction mixture to obtain the polyarylene ether sulfone polymer, wherein the reaction mixture comprises:
(A1) a dihalogen component comprising not less than 50 wt % of at least one dihalogen compound selected from the group consisting of 4,4′-dichlorodiphenyl sulfone and 4,4′-difluorodiphenyl sulfone, based on an overall weight of the dihalogen component in the reaction mixture;
(B1) a dihydroxy component comprising not less than 80 wt % of at least one dihydroxy compound selected from the group consisting of 4,4′-dihydroxydiphenyl sulfone, bisphenol A, and 4,4′-dihydroxybenzophenone, based on an overall weight of the dihydroxy component in the reaction mixture; and
(C) a carbonate component comprising not less than 50 wt % of potassium carbonate having a volume-averaged particle size of from 12.4 μm to <25 μm, based on an overall weight of the carbonate component in the reaction mixture.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the reaction mixture further comprises:
(D) a solvent component comprising at least one aprotic polar solvent.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the reaction mixture further comprises one or more aprotic polar solvents selected from the group consisting of anisole, dimethylformamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, sulfolane, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone and N-ethyl-2-pyrrolidone.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the dihalogen component comprises not less than 50 wt % of 4,4′-dichlorodiphenyl sulfone, based on the overall weight of the dihalogen component in the reaction mixture;
the dihydroxy component comprises not less than 50 wt % of 4,4′-dihydroxydiphenyl sulfone, based on the overall weight of the dihydroxy component in the reaction mixture;
the carbonate component consists essentially of the potassium carbonate having a volume-averaged particle size of from 12.4 μm to <25 μm; and
the reaction mixture further comprises a solvent component consisting essentially of N-methylpyrrolidone.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the dihalogen component comprises not less than 50 wt % of 4,4′-dichlorodiphenyl sulfone, based on the overall weight of the dihalogen component in the reaction mixture;
the dihydroxy component comprises not less than 50 wt % of bisphenol A, based on the overall weight of the dihydroxy component in the reaction mixture;
the carbonate component consists essentially of the potassium carbonate having a volume-averaged particle size of from 12.4 μm to <25 μm; and
the reaction mixture further comprises a solvent component consisting essentially of N-methyl pyrrolidone.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the potassium carbonate has a volume-averaged particle size in the range from 12.4 μm to 15 μm.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the reaction mixture contains no dihalogen compounds in addition to the at least one dihalogen compound of the dihalogen component.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the reaction mixture contains no further dihydroxy compounds in addition to the at least one dihydroxy compound of the dihydroxy component.

9. A polyarylene ether sulfone polymer obtained by the method according to claim 1 .

10. A method of forming a membrane, the method comprising separating a polyarylene ether sulfone polymer obtained by the method of claim 1 from a solution comprising the polyarylene ether sulfone polymer in at least one aprotic polar solvent, to form a membrane.

11. A method of forming a membrane, the method comprising separating a mixture of the polyarylene ether sulfone polymer of claim 9 and at least one hydrophilic polymer from a solution comprising the polyarylene ether sulfone polymer and the at least one hydrophilic polymer in at least one aprotic polar solvent, to form a membrane.

12. The method according to claim 10 , comprising:
(ii-a) extruding the solution from a die into a gaseous atmosphere in the presence or absence of a core liquid to obtain an extruded fiber; and
(ii-b) introducing the extruded fiber into at least one coagulation bath comprising a container and a coagulation liquid.

13. A membrane obtained by the method of claim 10 .

14. The membrane according to claim 13 , wherein the membrane is a hollow fiber membrane adapted to function as a membrane for dialysis.

15. A membrane formed from the polyarylene ether sulfone polymer according to claim 9 .

16. The method according to claim 11 , comprising:
(ii-a) extruding the solution from a die into a gaseous atmosphere in the presence or absence of a core liquid to obtain an extruded fiber; and
(ii-b) introducing the extruded fiber into at least one coagulation bath comprising a container and a coagulation liquid.

17. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the carbonate component consists essentially of the potassium carbonate having a volume-averaged particle size of from 12.4 μm to 22.4 μm.

18. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the dihalogen component consists essentially of 4,4′-dichlorodiphenyl sulfone, 4,4′-difluorodiphenyl sulfone, or a mixture thereof.

19. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the dihydroxy component consists essentially of bisphenol A.

20. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the dihalogen component consists essentially of 4,4′-dichlorodiphenyl sulfone, 4,4′-difluorodiphenyl sulfone, or a mixture thereof; and
the dihydroxy component consists essentially of bisphenol A.

21. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the carbonate component consists essentially of the potassium carbonate having a volume-averaged particle size of from 12.4 μm to <25 μm.

22. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the polyarylene ether sulfone polymer has a polydispersity of 2.0 to less than 4.

23. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the polyarylene ether sulfone polymer has a polydispersity of 3.0 to less than 4.

Assignees

• Basf Se

Inventors

• Weber Martin
• Maletzko Christian
• Erbes Joerg
• Kortekamp Tobias
• Staal Bastiaan Bram Pieter
• Heil Thomas

Classifications

• C08G75/23

  Polyethersulfones · CPC title

• C08G65/4056 Primary

  (I) or (II) containing sulfur (as the sulfone group C08G75/23) · CPC title

• B29C48/919

  using a bath, e.g. extruding into an open bath to coagulate or cool the material · CPC title

• B29C48/10

  flexible, e.g. blown foils · CPC title

• B29C48/05

  Filamentary, e.g. strands · CPC title