A PBI compound includes imidazole nitrogens at least a portion of which
are substituted with an organic-inorganic hybrid moiety may be included
in a separatory medium. At least 85% of the imidazole nitrogens may be
substituted. The organic-inorganic hybrid moiety may be an organosilane
moiety, for example, (R)Me.sub.2SiCH.sub.2-- where R is selected from
among methyl, phenyl, vinyl, and allyl. The separatory medium may exhibit
an H.sub.2, Ar, N.sub.2, O.sub.2, CH.sub.3, or CO.sub.2 gas permeability
greater than the gas permeability of a comparable separatory medium
comprising the PBI compound without substitution. The separatory medium
may further include an electronically conductive medium and/or an
ionically conductive medium. The separatory medium may be used as a
membrane (semi-permeable, permeable, and non-permeable), a barrier, an
ion exchange media, a filter, a gas chromatography coating (such as
stationary phase coating in affinity chromatography), etc.