Perfluoroaryl Boranes as Polymerization Initiators

In addition to the familiar and extensive role perfluoroaryl boranes and borates fill as co-catalysts for the coordination polymerization of ethylene and a-olefins, these compounds can act as initiators for other polymerization reactions due to their high Lewis acidity. 

Neutral dimethyl metallocenes of group 4, Cp2MMe2, are effective catalysts for the dehydropolymerization of primary silanes, via a a bond metathesis pathway.234 Given the topological similarities between the four centered transition states for olefin insertion into M-C bonds and a bond metathesis reactions, it was postulated that activation of these metallocenes by B(C6F5)3 might enhance dehydropolymerization of silanes in 

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