Issue 39, 2019

Living β-selective cyclopolymerization using Ru dithiolate catalysts

Abstract

Cyclopolymerization (CP) of 1,6-heptadiyne derivatives is a powerful method for synthesizing conjugated polyenes containing five- or six-membered rings via α- or β-addition, respectively. Fifteen years of studies on CP have revealed that user-friendly Ru-based catalysts promoted only α-addition; however, we recently achieved β-selective regiocontrol to produce polyenes containing six-membered-rings, using a dithiolate-chelated Ru-based catalyst. Unfortunately, slow initiation and relatively low catalyst stability inevitably led to uncontrolled polymerization. Nevertheless, this investigation gave us some clues to how successful living polymerization could be achieved. Herein, we report living β-selective CP by rational engineering of the steric factor on monomer or catalyst structures. As a result, the molecular weight of the conjugated polymers from various monomers could be controlled with narrow dispersities, according to the catalyst loading. A mechanistic investigation by in situ kinetic studies using 1H NMR spectroscopy revealed that with appropriate pyridine additives, imposing a steric demand on either the monomer or the catalyst significantly improved the stability of the propagating carbene as well as the relative rates of initiation over propagation, thereby achieving living polymerization. Furthermore, we successfully prepared diblock and even triblock copolymers with a broad monomer scope.

Graphical abstract: Living β-selective cyclopolymerization using Ru dithiolate catalysts

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
18 mars 2019
Accepted
22 juil. 2019
First published
22 juil. 2019
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 8955-8963

Living β-selective cyclopolymerization using Ru dithiolate catalysts

K. Jung, T. S. Ahmed, J. Lee, J. Sung, H. Keum, R. H. Grubbs and T. Choi, Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 8955 DOI: 10.1039/C9SC01326A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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