Patent ID: 7687595

Claim:
A method for the melt synthesis of a telechelic sulfonated polycarbonate, comprising: first reacting a mixture comprising a dihydroxy compound and a sulfobenzoic acid salt and a catalyst to obtain an intermediate product at a temperature of from about 190° C. to about 230° C.; adding an activated carbonate to the mixture; and then reacting the intermediate product with the activated carbonate to obtain the telechelic sulfonated polycarbonate; wherein the dihydroxy compound has the structure of Formula (I): wherein R 1 through R 8 are each independently selected from hydrogen, halogen, nitro, cyano, C 1 - C 20 alkyl, C 4 -C 20 cycloalkyl, and C 6 -C 20 aryl; and A is selected from a bond, —O—, —S—, —SO 2 —, C 1 -C 12 alkyl, C 6 -C 20 aromatic, and C 6 -C 20 cycloaliphatic; the sulfobenzoic acid salt has the structure of Formula (II): wherein M is an alkali metal; and Ar″ is an aromatic ring; and the activated carbonate has the structure of Formula (III): wherein each Q or Q′ is independently selected from alkoxycarbonyl, halogen, nitro, amide, sulfone, sulfoxide, imine, and cyano; Ar and Ar′ are independently aromatic rings; n and n′ are independently whole numbers from zero up to the number of replaceable hydrogen groups on each aromatic ring Ar and Ar′, wherein (n+n′)≧1; p is an integer from zero up to the number of replaceable hydrogen groups on aromatic ring Ar minus n; p′ is an integer from zero up to the number of replaceable hydrogen groups on aromatic ring Ar′ minus n′; and each R or R′ is independently selected from alkyl, substituted alkyl, cycloalkyl, alkoxy, aryl, alkylaryl having from 1 to 30 carbon atoms, cyano, nitro, halogen, and carboalkoxy.