The invention is directed to an antimicrobial polymer that can preferably be processed thermoplastically, a method for the preparation of said antimicrobial polymer and its use in antimicrobial treatment. The invention is further directed to polymer blends containing antimicrobial polymers and the use of special monomers in the preparation of antimicrobial polymers that can be processed thermoplastically.

Disclosed are fluoropolymers with low CWST values and porous membranes made from the fluoropolymers. The fluoropolymer is made up of polymerized monomeric units of the formula A-XCH.sub.2B, wherein A is C.sub.6F.sub.13(CH.sub.2).sub.2, X is O or S, and B is vinylphenyl, and the fluoropolymer has a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of at least 100 Kd and/or a glass transition temperature of at least 33? C. copolymer. The porous membranes are suitable for degassing a variety of fluids.

Disclosed is a multilayer optical compensation film comprising a first layer comprising a positive C-plate material and a second layer comprising a polyimide, as well as polymer compositions and resins and solutions containing said polymer compositions. The optical compensation film has a reversed wavelength dispersion that is capable of providing an achromatic (or broadband) retardation compensation. The optical film can be used in optical devices such as liquid crystal displays (LCD) or organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays.

Disclosed is an optical compensation film made of a solution cast of a polymer blend comprising a nitrated styrenic fluoropolymer and a polyimide. The compensation film is a positive-C plate having reversed wavelength dispersion that is capable of providing an achromatic (or broadband) retardation compensation. The optical film of the invention can be used in an optical device such as liquid crystal display (LCD) or organic light emitting diode (OLED) display.

Disclosed is an oligomeric or polymeric compound comprising at least two structural units of formula (I) wherein Ar is a carbocyclic aromatic radical or a heterocyclic aromatic radical with the two carbonyl carbon atoms being attached to two ring carbon atoms of the Ar group forming together with the imide-nitrogen atom a five-membered or a six-membered ring X is a divalent group selected from CR.sup.1R.sup.2, CO, SiR.sup.3R.sup.4, P(O)R.sup.5, P(O)(OR.sup.6), PR.sup.7, P(OR.sup.8), S(O) or S(O).sub.2. R.sup.1 to R.sup.8 independently of one another are hydrogen, alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl or heteroaryl groups, R.sup.9 is a divalent hydrocarbon group or a covalent bond, and R.sup.10, R.sup.11 and R.sup.12 independently of one another are hydrogen or C.sub.1-C.sub.6 alkyl or R.sup.10 and R.sup.11 or R.sup.10 and R.sup.12 together with the carbon atoms to which they are attached form a cycloaliphatic ring or a bicyclic aliphatic system The oligomeric or polymeric compound comprising units of formula (I) of the invention can be used as redox-active material in storage means for electric energy, for example in batteries, redox-flow cells, fuel cells or capacitors. ##STR00001##

A liquid composition comprising a polymer having pendant groups of the formula I: (I) Wherein X is either a bond or is a linking group having 1 to 8 carbons and optionally 1 to 4 heteroatoms selected from O, N and S; and n is 1 to 4. ##STR00001##

The present invention relates to a substituted styrene-based compound represented by Formula 1 (refer to the specification and the scope of the claims), a method of preparing the styrene-based compound, a modified polymer including a functional group derived from the substituted styrene-based compound, a method of preparing the modified polymer, a rubber composition including the modified polymer, and a molded article manufactured from the rubber composition.

The present invention provides a conductive material including: (A) a -conjugated polymer, (B) a dopant polymer which contains one or more repeating units selected from a1 to a4 respectively shown by the following general formula (1) and has a weight-average molecular weight in the range of 1,000 to 500,000, and (C) one or more salts selected from the group consisting of a metal salt of carboxylic acid, a metal salt of -diketone, a metal nitrate, a metal carbonate, a metal bicarbonate, a metal halide, and a metal hydroxide, with the metal being selected from the group consisting of cesium, rubidium, barium, and strontium. There can be provided a conductive material which is neutral and highly suitable for a printer, superior in film-formability, and also can form a conductive film having high transparency and conductivity, excellent flexibility and flatness when the film is formed from the material. ##STR00001##

Disclosed is a preparation method for a polytrifluorostyrene. The method comprises: (i) providing a pre-emulsion of a trifluorostyrene monomer and a non-perfluorinated fluorine-containing anionic surfactant, wherein based on the weight of the trifluorostyrene monomer, the amount of the non-perfluorinated fluorine-containing anionic surfactant in the emulsion is 0.1-5 wt %, the non-perfluorinated fluorine-containing anionic surfactant has the general formula: CF.sub.3(CFX)n-(CH.sub.2)m-(C.sub.6H.sub.4)o-M, where n is an integer of 1-7, m is an integer of 1-4, and o is an integer of 0-2; X is selected from F, CF.sub.3, OCF.sub.3, and FCF.sub.2C(CF.sub.3).sub.2; and M is selected from a carboxyl group, a sulfo group or respective salts thereof; (ii) adding an initiator to initiate a microemulsion polymerization reaction of the trifluorostyrene monomer; and (iii) adding a coagulant for demulsification.

Disclosed herein are electrically conductive polymer compositions comprising a polymer and a dispersant, and methods of synthesizing the polymers therein. Also disclosed herein are microelectrode arrays comprising the electrically conductive material and a conductive polymer composition attached to a surface of the electrically conductive material. Further disclosed herein are methods of detecting electrical activity in a cell comprising contacting the microelectrode array with a cell and detecting electrical activity in the cell by covalently attaching the polymer of the conductive polymer composition to a protein on the surface of the cell.