Patent ID: 7851575

Claim:
An ion conducting membrane comprising an addition polymer comprising polycyclic repeating units having the structural formula: wherein X represents —CH 2 —,—CH 2 CH 2 —, O or S; n is an integer from 0 to 5 inclusive; R 1 to R 4 independently represent hydrogen or a pendant group selected from linear and branched (C 1 to C 20 ) alkyl, linear and branched (C 1 to C 20 ) haloalkyl, or a pendant ion conducting moiety and salts thereof selected from sulfonic acid, phosphoric acid, carboxylic acid moieties and combinations thereof, represented by the formulae: -(A) q -SO 3 H -(A) q -OP(O)(OH)(OR) -(A) q -P(O)(OH)(OR) —(CH 2 ) m C(O)OH wherein A is a spacer moiety represented —(CH 2 ) m —, —(CH 2 ) m O—, —(CH 2 ) m O(CH 2 ) m —, —O(CH 2 ) m —, —(CH 2 ) m NR 15 (CH 2 ) m —, —(CH 2 ) m -aryl-, —O(CH 2 ) m -aryl-, —(CH 2 ) m O(CH 2 ) m -aryl-, -aryl-O(CH 2 ) m —, -aryl-NR 15 (CH 2 ) m —, —(C(R 16 ) 2 ) m (C(R 16 ) 2 ) m O(C(R 17 ) 2 ) a —, wherein aryl represents phenyl, naphthyl, and anthracenyl, R is selected from hydrogen, linear and branched (C 1 to C 10 ) alkyl, linear and branched (C 1 to C 10 )haloalkyl, and substituted and unsubstituted (C 6 -C 16 ) aryl; R 15 independently is selected from hydrogen and (C 1 to C 5 ) alkyl; R 16 independently is selected from hydrogen, halogen, (C 1 to C 5 ) alkyl, and (C 1 to C 5 ) haloalkyl R 17 independently is selected from hydrogen and halogen; R 18 is selected from hydrogen and (C 1 to C 10 ) alkyl and (C 1 to C 5 ) haloalkyl; a is 2 to 6; m independently is 0 to 4 and q is 0 or 1, subject to the proviso that for at least a portion of such repeating units, at least one of R 1 to R 4 is a phosphoric acid moiety not directly connected to an oxygen atom on said spacer moiety.