FLUORINATED ION EXCHANGE POLYMER CONTAINING CARBOXYLIC GROUPS, AND PROCESS FOR MAKING SAME

摘要

Fluorinated ion exchange polymers which have both pendant side chains containing carboxylic groups and pendant side chains which contain sulfonyl groups, when used in the form of membranes to separate the anode and cathode compartments of an electrolysis cell, permit operation at high current efficiency. They are made by oxidation of fluorinated polymers which have pendant side chains containing sulfinic groups, or both sulfinic and sulfonyl groups. The fluorinated polymers which have pendant side chains containing sulfinic groups, or both sulfinic and sulfonyl groups, are in turn made from fluorinated polymers which have pendant side chains containing sulfonyl halide groups by reduction with, for example, hydrazine. Fluorinated ion exchange polymers which have pendant side chains containing -OCF2COOR groups and also pendant side chains which contain sulfonyl groups can also be made by copolymerization of a mixture of monomers, one of which is a vinyl monomer which contains the indicated carboxylic group; and also by treatment of a polymer which contains -OCF2CF2SO3H or salts thereof with a combination of fluorine and oxygen.