Three novel ionic monomers having highly delocalized anions and electrochemically stable mobile cations, namely, 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidiniumpropylsulfonyl)]methanide and 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium 1-cyano-1- [(3-(methacryloyloxy) propylsulfonyl)]imide were synthesized and characterized. The structure of these monomers was designed to be a mimic of the most highly conductive bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, tricyanomethanide and dicyanamide anions. By radical polymerization procedure a series of new anionic ''polymeric ionic liquids'' (PILs) were prepared. The solubility of these linear PILs, thermal stability, glass transition temperatures, molar masses and ionic conductivities were estimated. An advantage of the novel PILs was demonstrated by the comparison of their ionic conductivity at 25 C (2.0 Â 10 À8 O 1.6 Â 10 À7 S cm À1 ) with the unmodified poly(1-ethyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium 3-(methacryloyloxy)propane-1-sulfonate) analog. The increase in ionic conductivity is as high as three orders of magnitude and was found to depend on the size of the attached anion. The new ionic monomers were subsequently copolymerized with poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate and poly (ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate. The investigation of the copolymers properties revealed further improvement of the conductivity in approximately two orders of magnitude and the achievement of s ¼ 4.8 O 6.8 Â 10 À6 S cm À1 ) at 40 C.

A synthetic method for the transformation of polyimides into poly(ionic liquid)s with improved properties is suggested.

The achievement of high ionic conductivity in new "polymeric ionic liquids" (PILs) is of great interest as it refers to the solid state electrolytes and their applications in electrochemistry. Four ionic monomers, including two new ones, namely N-[(2-methacryloyloxy)-propyl]-N-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide (M1), 1-[2-(methacryloyloxy)propyl]-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide (M2), N-methyl-N-ethylpyrrolidinium(3-sulfopropyl) methacrylate (M3), and 1-methyl-3-ethylimidazolium(3-sulfopropyl) methacrylate (M4), were prepared and used both for the synthesis of linear PILs and ionic networks with poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (PEGDM). The optimal polymerization conditions for obtaining high molar mass PILs (M sD up to 1.24 Â 10 6 g/mol) were identified. The copolymerization of oppositely charged monomers was studied as well. Polycations, polyanions, and their random ionic copolymers were compared in terms of their physical properties. The examined properties were found to depend mainly on the nature of the counterion. It became obvious that the bulk ionic conductivity of hydrophilic polyanions is greatly affected by the humidity. It increases up to 220 times upon transferring from dry air to 20% relative humidity. Ionic conductivity increased in random ionic copolymers synthesized from oppositely charged monomers feasibly, suggesting that the ion transport was improved by the partial formation of mobile ionic liquid within the polymer.

No abstract