Metathesis polymerisation

REMP, the acronym for ring expansion metathesis polymerisation is a special case of ROMP, where the growing polymer chain stays attached to the catalyst at both ends nntil a macrocycle is released. This requires that the active carbene be tethered... 

Controlling the exact architectnre of polymers has always attracted attention in macromolecular chemistry. Snccessfnl synthesis of alternating copolymers nsing ring opening metathesis polymerisation is of great interest also from a mechanistic perspective. NHC ligands were fonnd to be ideal to tune the selectivity of the metathesis initiators. 

Given the success of the Grubbs-type NHC-Ru catalysts in metathesis polymerisation (Chapter 3), it is somewhat surprising that more research has not been done on mid-transition metal carbene complexes for coordination-insertion polymerisation. At this stage however, there are only a few reported attempts with the metals Co, Fe and Ir. 

ROMP Ring Opening Insertion Metathesis Polymerisation... 

Since one of the substrates is a cyclic alkene there is now the possibility of ring-opening metathesis polymerisation (ROMP) occurring which would result in the formation of polymeric products 34 (n >1). Since polymer synthesis is outside the scope of this review, only alkene cross-metathesis reactions resulting in the formation of monomeric cross-coupled products (for example 30) will be discussed here. 

For a more in depth coverage of the use of ill-defined catalysts in cross-metathesis, see Ivin KJ, Mol JC (1997) Olefin metathesis and metathesis polymerisation. Academic Press, San Diego, Chap 9... 

Patel A, Fouace S, Steinke JH. Enantioselective molecularly imprinted polymers via ringopening metathesis polymerisation. Chem Commun 2003 88-89. 

Fig. 6.3 Ring-opening metathesis polymerisation (ROMP) of norbornene (the two cyclohexyl groups on each of the P atoms are omitted for the sake of clarity according to Astruc et aI.)...

Up to third-generation ruthenium-carbene complexed dendrimers (Fig. 6.2) prepared by Astruc et al. contain a chelating diphosphane, which is sufficiently stable for construction of the dendritic architecture while also sufficiently reactive to permit synthesis of the dendrimer depicted in Fig. 6.3 by ring-opening metathesis polymerisation (ROMP) [3]. 

Another type of metal-carbon bond, the metal carbene bond (with carbene of an electrophilic or nucleophilic character), appears to be the active bond in transition metal-based catalysts for the ring-opening metathesis polymerisation of cycloolefins. Such a bond, which is co-originated with metal by the sp2-hybridized carbon atom, possesses a a, n double bond character (Mt = C) [34,35], The enchainment of the coordinating cycloolefin at the active site... 

A characteristic feature of cycloolefin ring-opening metathesis polymerisation is alteration of the metal-carbon active bonds from the metal carbene a, n bond into metallacycle a bonds, and vice versa, as polymerisation progresses. It is worth mentioning, in this connection, that metallacyclobutanes can be successfully used as catalysts for this polymerisation [36,37]. 

An interesting case is the coordination polymerisation of acetylene and higher alkynes. It may proceed by a mechanism quite similar to the metathesis polymerisation of cycloalkenes involving metal carbene and metallacycle (metallacyclobutene) species [45], The initiation and propagation steps in alkyne polymerisation (leading to a polymer of cis structure) in the presence of a catalyst with a diphenylcarbene initiating ligand are as follows ... 

Note that the transformation of metal carbene vice versa, during polymerisation occurs as in the case of cycloalk-ene ring-opening metathesis polymerisation. Considering the mechanism of metathesis polymerisation of acetylenic monomers, it is worth noting that catalysts containing a transition metal carbyne bond (Mt=C) can induce polymerisation only when this bond is transformed into the respective metal carbene bond (Mt=C) [39],... 

These early results, along with a vast number of other data [45], establish that ring-opening metathesis polymerisation proceeds via a chain process [scheme (4) in Chapter 2] in which the structures of the active species fluctuate between metal alkylidenes (carbenes) and four-membered metallacycles (metallacyclo-butane)s, a concept that was first introduced by Herisson and Chauvin [46]. 

In common with the polymerisation of acyclic olefins (oc-olefins) by Ziegler Natta catalysts, the ring-opening metathesis polymerisation of monocyclic and bicyclic olefins is promoted by alkylmetal-activated transition metal halides, and only a relatively small proportion of the transition metal atoms introduced into the system is converted into the active sites for the polymerisation. Also, as in the polymerisation of ethylene by Phillips catalysts, the metathesis polymer-... 

The above examples show that the ring-opening metathesis polymerisation of cycloolefins, even simple substituted bicyclic olefins, gives rise, in principle, to polymers with a very wide range of microstructures defined by the frequency and distribution of cis and trans vinylene units, m and r diads and h-h, t-t or h-t arrangements of cycloaliphatic units. 

There is a wide variety of transition metal compounds, ranging from group 4 (Ti) to group 8 metals (Ir), that can be applied as catalysts or catalyst precursors for the ring-opening metathesis polymerisation of cycloolefins. However, the most commonly used are W, Mo, Re and Ru compounds tungsten-based catalysts appeared to be the most effective. Other transition metal compounds such as Nb and Ta compounds have also often been used as catalysts, but especially for mechanistic studies [45]. 

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