Metalliferous Epoxy-Chelate Polymers: Analytical Review

The production of the polymer materials possessing a good combination of high resistance to mechanical and heat destruction with good processability and low cost is an important problem of polymer chemistry. The continual expansion of the total volume of the output of the thermally resistant polymers shows a considerable increase of their usage in industry [1, 2]. The rise of the maximal temperature of the long-duration operation of polymers from 125°C when using phenol-formaldehyde resins to 315°C when using polybenzimidazoles [3, 4] is accompanied by an increase in the cost of such thermally resistant polymers. For example, the cost of some special polymers having, e.g., high thermal resistance or semiconductor properties is 1000 times the cost of such construction polymers as polyolefines, polyesters, polyurethanes, epoxy resins, etc., because processing of these special polymers requires application of new expensive technologies [3]. Because of this, such modification of the construction polymers that not only improves their properties but also gives them some new attributes, e.g., high thermal resistance or improved optical or electrical properties, is one of the important ways to produce new unique polymers. This modification can be achieved by the following changes in the polymer matrix structure: 1. Introduction into the macromolecular chains of connected heteroatoms that can form quasi-cumulated bonds as a result of delocalization of the p-electrons of one heteroatom on the d- or p-electron vacant orbitals of other heteroatoms. 2. Polyconjugation of mutliple bondings of aromatic and heterocyclic nuclei that causes formation of strong hypermolecular structures having increased stiffness. 3. Combination of this polyconjugation with the heteroatom-containing structural fragments in the polymer matrix [5].