Ruthenium catalyzed equilibrium ring-opening metathesis polymerization of cyclopentene

Abstract

Polypentenamer was synthetized by equilibrium ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) using well-defined ruthenium catalyst systems. It was found that the equilibrium time is influenced by the catalyst loading or the catalyst activity, however as expected, the overall cyclopentene conversion is determined only by the applied reaction temperature. Equilibrium of the growing chain and monomer was observed and the activation enthalpy and entropy were determined as: ΔH = −5.6 kcal mol⁻¹; ΔS = −18.5 cal mol⁻¹ K⁻¹. So far these values are the lowest which are reported for cyclopentene polymerization catalyst systems. This unique feature of the equilibrium polymerization opens a way for the synthesis of durable, environmentally friendly elastomers where tires can be not only synthetized but also readily recycled by the same transition metal catalyst system.