Patent ID: 7943721

Claim:
A method of preparing a hydrogenated cross-linked polymer, comprising: polymerizing a reactive composition comprising a mixture of at least two different monomers, wherein the monomers are represented by the formula III: REH 3 H 3 E-(ER 2 ) c -EH 3 H 3 E-(ER 2 ) c -ERH 2 H 3 E-(ER 2 ) c -ER 3 (III) wherein every E is independently a Si atom or a Ge atom, every R group is independently selected as specified below, and c is a number from 0 to 100, to form a cross-linked polymer represented by the formula I: -(ER 2 ) a — (I) wherein every E is as specified above, every R group is independently a hydrogen, a halogen, an alkenyl group, a substituted alkenyl group, an alkynyl group, a substituted alkynyl group, an aromatic hydrocarbyl group, a substituted aromatic hydrocarbyl group, a heterocyclic aromatic hydrocarbyl group, a substituted heterocyclic aromatic hydrocarbyl group, a SiR 1 3 group, a GeR 1 3 group, a NR 1 2 group, a PR 1 2 group, an OR 1 group, or a SR 1 group; every R 1 group is independently a hydrogen, a hydrocarbyl group, or a substituted hydrocarbyl group; wherein the R groups are optionally linked to each other to form a stable bridging group and the R 1 groups are optionally linked to each other to form a stable bridging group; wherein the average a is a number from 2 to 1,000,000, and a fraction of the R groups are replaced with cross-linking bonds between polymer chains wherein the cross-linking chains comprise -(ER 2 ) a′— polymeric chains with the R groups being independently selected from the R groups above, and a′ is a distribution of numbers with an average from 1 to about 1000; and when the R groups of the polymer represented by the formula I are not H, reacting the product of polymerization with a source of hydride to replace the R groups with H to form said hydrogenated cross-linked polymer.