Patent ID: 7112363

Claim:
An article having a hydrophilic surface formed from a substrate comprising a fluorine-containing polymer having the surface of the substrate contacted with and modified with a crosslinked fluorocarbon polymeric composition which is crosslinked with fluorinated crosslinking groups and which has hydrophilic functional groups, said crosslinked fluorocarbon polymeric composition being derived from an uncrosslinked fluorocarbon polymeric composition containing a functional group selected from the group consisting of a sulfonyl halide, a carbonyl halide, a group that can be converted to a sulfonyl halide and a group that can be converted to a carbonylhalide; wherein the crosslinked fluorocarbon polymeric composition having hydrophilic functional groups has the formula: covalently bonded through the R f groups each to a CY group of a fluorocarbon polymeric composition of the formula: wherein A is a polymeric group derived from at least one fluorine-containing polymerizable monomer, n is an integer that can be 0, 1 or greater than 1, m is an integer of at least 1 and Y is hydrogen or halogen wherein at least one Y is a fluorine; T is a carbonyl or sulfonyl group; R f is a C 1 –C 20 linear, cyclic or branched fluoroalkyl group optionally containing one or more oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine, phosphorous, hydrogen and/or sulfur atoms and/or one or more sulfonyl or carbonyl groups, or a sulfonyl or carbonyl-containing fluoropolymeric group, wherein the R f groups can be the same or different; Z+ is a proton or an organic or an inorganic cation; t can be 0 or 1; L is C, CH or N; E′ is -TR f ″T- or —R f ′—; G is R f ′T- or R; R f ′ is C 1 –C 20 linear, cyclic or branched fluoroalkyl radical optionally containing one or more oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine, phosphorous, hydrogen and/or sulfur atoms and/or one or more sulfonyl or carbonyl groups, or a sulfonyl or carbonyl-containing fluoropolymeric group; R f ″ is C 1 –C 20 linear, cyclic or branched fluoroalkyl group optionally containing one or more oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine, phosphorous, hydrogen and/or sulfur atoms and/or one or more sulfonyl or carbonyl groups, or a sulfonyl or carbonyl-containing fluoropolymeric group, optionally connected to another chain or the fluorocarbon polymeric composition having hydrophilic functional groups and R is hydrogen or a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl or aryl group.