TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Methods: In M1, stage (a) is carried out e.g. at 75degrees C in an autoclave under elevated pressure, e.g. 5-50 bar; stage (b) involves reaction of (10) with a compound of formula R-X (preferably R-Cl), e.g. benzyl chloride, in presence of a base; suitable bases for stages (b) and (c) comprise n- or tert.-butyl-lithium, lithium di-isopropylamide and sodium hydride; stage (b) and (c) are carried out in an anhydrous solvent such as THF, dioxan or DMF; stage (c) is carried out at least partly at low temperature, e.g. -78degrees C.M2 involves (a) radical-initiated homopolymerisation of (6b', 6c') or copolymerisation with fluoro-monomers, especially fluoro-olefins (e.g. chlorotrifluoroethylene, hexafluoropropene, trifluoroethylene, tetrafluoroethylene, 3,3,3-trifluoropropene or pentafluoropropene, vinyl or vinylidene fluoride, 2H-1,1,3,3,3-pentafluoroethylene (sic) or perfluoroalkyl vinyl ethers.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Polymers: The polymers are protected polymers (17) containing acid functions in addition to the above monomer units. Preferred Definitions:    R = benzyl, trialkylsilyl or carbamate    .    EXAMPLE - A solution of 20 g o-phenylenediamine in 80 ml ethyl acetate was mixed in an autoclave with 41.6 g hexafluoropropene (HFP), reacted for 18 hours at 75degrees C and worked up by removal of solvent, dissolution in 100 ml water, neutralisation with 10% sodium carbonate solution, filtration and recrystallisation from water/ethanol to give 27 g (75%) intermediate (10). A mixture of 10 g (10), 7.3 g benzyl chloride and 140 ml acetonitrile was treated with 5.2 g potassium carbonate, refluxed for 48 hours and worked up by filtration, evaporation etc. followed by recrystallisation from hexane, to give 6.3 g (43%) 1-benzyl-2-tetrafluoroethyl-benzimidazole (12). A solution of 3 g (12)in 50 ml THF was cooled to -78degrees C, treated with 6.5 ml n-butyl-lithium (1.6-M in hexane), kept at -78degrees C for 1 hour, stirred at room temperature (RT) for 24 hours, treated with 5 ml ethanol and worked up to give 1-benzyl-2-(1,2,2-trifluorovinyl)-benzimidazole (6b'), which was characterised by 1H- and 19F-NMR analysis. This monomer (6b') was subjected to radical homopolymerisation or copolymerisation (with other fluoro-monomers such as HFP or VDF) to give a protected (co)polymer from which the protecting groups were removed to give a proton-conducting polymer.