Conjugated polymer synthesis via a chain-growth mechanism enables precise control over molecular weight and molecular weight distribution, while also enabling access to backbone compositions that are typically difficult to obtain via a step-growth mechanism (e.g. block copolymers). A number of different cross-coupling chemistries can be used to bring about chain-growth polymerization of aromatic monomers including Kumada-Corriu and Suzuki-Miyaura reactions. Suzuki-Miyaura coupling is particularly useful when the arene monomer bears functional groups which are sensitive to strong nucleophiles. In this talk, we will highlight some of our recent work examining the choice of boron coupling partner in Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling polymerization (tunable B(OR)<sub>2</sub> group in Figure 1). We have noted that the choice of organoboron impacts both the rate of polymerization and the molecular weight of the final material. The boron group bound to the aromatic monomer can be considered as a tunable moiety to modulate polymerization behavior when using Suzuki-Miyaura coupling for the chain-growth polymerization of aromatics.

Exploring the choice of boron coupling partner in Suzuki-Miyaura catalyst-transfer polymerization

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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