SHAPED ORGANOPOLYSILOXANES CONTAINING SULFONATE GROUPS, A PROCESS FOR THEIR PRODUCTION AND THEIR USE

The invention elates to shaped organopolysiloxanes containing sulfonate groups and consisting of units (0 3/2Si-R1-S0 3)x Mx+ in which R1 is an alkylene group, x is a number of 1 to 4 depending on M and M is hydrogen or a mono- to tetra-valent, optionally complex metal ion and the valencies of the silicon oxygen atoms are saturated by silicon. atoms of other groups (I) or by crosslinking silicon and aluminium compounds, the ratio of the silicon atoms in (I) to the silicon and aluminium atoms of the cross-linker being from 1:4 to 1:20. The organopolysiloxanes containing sulfonate groups are present in the form of spherical particles with a diameter of 0.01 to 3.0 mm, a specific surface of 0.1 to 1200 M2/g, a specific pore volume of 0.01 to 6.0 ml/g and an apparent density of 50 to 1000 g/l. The invention also relates to processes for the production of the shaped sulfonated organopoly-siloxanes and to their use as a solid acid catalyst.