Patent ID: 7179860

Claim:
An organic-inorganic hybrid derived from combining at least one inorganic alkoxide and a sulfonated hydrogenated block copolymer having the general configuration A-B, A-B-A, (A-B)n, (A-B-A)n, (A-B-A)nX, (AB)nX or mixtures thereof, where n is an integer from 2 to 30, and X is coupling agent residue and wherein: a. prior to hydrogenation each A block is a mono alkenyl arene polymer block and each B block is a controlled distribution copolymer block of at least one conjugated diene and at least one mono alkenyl arene; b. subsequent to hydrogenation 0–10% of the arene double bonds have been reduced, and at least about 90% of the conjugated diene double bonds have been reduced; c. each A block having a number average molecular weight between 3,000 and 60,000 and each B block having a number average molecular weight between 30,000 and 300,000; d. each B block comprises terminal regions adjacent to the A blocks that are rich in conjugated diene units and one or more regions not adjacent to the A blocks that are rich in mono alkenyl arene units; e. the total amount of mono alkenyl arene in the hydrogenated block copolymer is 20 percent weight to 80 percent weight; f. the weight percent of mono alkenyl arene in each B block is between 10 percent and 75 percent; and g. at least 25% of the aromatic rings of the alkenyl arene are sulfonated.