Vinyl boronate polymers with dynamic exchange properties

Abstract

Boron-containing polymers have aroused great research interest in materials science due to their specific recognition, stimulus-response, and dynamic exchange. However, the introduction of boron-containing groups into the pendant of polymers remains a great challenge. This work introduces vinyl boronic acid (VB(OH)₂, CH₂CHB(OH)₂) and a series of boronate monomers for preparing well-defined polyolefins with boron-containing groups. Vinylboronic acid pinacol ester (VB_pin) was found to be a suitable monomer in radical polymerization, and the well-defined corresponding polymers were successfully obtained by reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. The thermal stability of the prepared VB_pin-containing polymers showed a significant improvement after the reduction of the trithioester end groups. Moreover, the dynamic exchange properties of VB_pin polymers were investigated, indicating the potential of these polymers as functional materials.