Highly permeable polymer materials based on silicon-substituted norbornenes

Abstract

An approach to the manufacture of highly permeable polymers based on the synthesis and polymerization of norbornenes, norbornadienes, and tricyclononenes with different numbers and different positions of silicon-containing substituents has been developed. It has been found that these monomers are readily involved in metathesis polymerization yielding high-molecular-mass polymers possessing good filmforming properties. The addition (vinyl) polymerization of norbornenes is a more complex process; however, the product silylated polynorbornenes exhibit a higher gas permeability than the corresponding metathesis polynorbornenes. By the level of the gas-transport parameters, the silylated addition polynorbornenes obtained in the study are grouped with the most advanced high-permeability polymers. It has been shown that the presence of Me3Si substituent groups, their amount, and the main-chain structure are responsible for the enhancement of the gas permeability of polynorbornenes. Thus, a series of polymers with a regularly changing structure has been obtained, a result that makes it possible to reveal the polymer structure-property relations.