Stille reactions copolymers

The imidazole, benzoxazole, and benzthiazole derivatives in Table 7-3 are rather moisture-sensitive.92 On the whole, however, the heteroarylstannanes show the same reactions that characterise the homoarylstannanes. With a palladium catalyst, they undergo coupling112 and cross-coupling reactions68 and indeed much of the recent interest in the heteroarylstannanes stems from their applications in the Stille reaction (see Section 22.2). One aspect of this is the synthesis of oligomers and polymers or copolymers, for example by the cross-coupling of 2,5-distannylthiophene with a 1,4-diiodo-arene.113,114... 

Though both Suzuki and Stille reactions have been widely used to prepare conjugated polymers (including D-A copolymers), there are some subtle issues to consider when it comes to choose which reaction to use. For example, it is worth noting that the electron richness of stannyl aromatics decides whether these monomers are suitable for Stille-based polymerization or not. Mechanistically, relatively electron-rich thiophenes undergo the transmetalation step more readily than stannylbenzenes. Thus, stannylbenzenes experience low reactivity under Stille reaction conditions. Correspondingly, most thiophene-based aromatics are polymerized via Stille reactions, whereas a Suzuki reaction is a better option for benzene-based compounds. For example, fluorene and carbazole based polymers are usually prepared by Suzuki reaction, whereas polymers with cyclo-penta[2,l- ) 3,4-6 ]dithiophene, silolo[3,2- 4,5- ) ]dithiophene or benzo[l,2- 4,5-i Jdithiophene are often polymerized via Stille reaction. Due to its broader utilization over the Suzuki reaction in preparing D-A copolymers, Stille reaction-based polymerization will be the focus of this chapter, with a brief discussion on the Suzuki-based polymerization also included (Section 15.2.3). 

Polymerizations utilizing the Stille reaction have been thoroughly reviewed by Yu and coworkers. " Here, we only briefly summarize some important aspects relevant to the synthesis of D-A copolymers, including monomer reactivity, solvent effect and types of catalyst and loading. The readers should refer to the original reviews for more information and further details. 

Copolymers with alternating benzene-thiophene units have been synthesized via the Stille reaction of both substituted aryl halide and triflate (equation 108) (255,254). The molecular weight was 14,000 by GPC when n was equal to 16. This corresponds to a DP of approximately 22. 

In a cross-linked polymer, the junction units are different kinds of monomers than the chain repeat units, so these molecules might be considered to be still another comonomer. While the chemical reactions which yield such cross-linked substances are copolymerizations, the products are described as cross-linked rather than as copolymers. In this instance, the behavior due to cross-linking takes precedence over the presence of an additional type of monomer in the structure. 

The first, and still widely used, polymer-supported ester is formed from an amino acid and a chloromethylated copolymer of styrene-divinylbenzene. Originally it was cleaved by basic hydrolysis (2 N NaOH, FtOH, 25°, 1 h). Subsequently, it has been cleaved by hydrogenolysis (H2/Pd-C, DMF, 40°, 60 psi, 24 h, 71% yield), and by HF, which concurrently removes many amine protective groups. Monoesterification of a symmetrical dicarboxylic acid chloride can be effected by reaction with a hydroxymethyl copolymer of styrene-divinylbenzene to give an ester a mono salt of a diacid was converted into a dibenzyl polymer. ... 

In both anionic and cationic polymerization it is possible to create living polymers . In this process, we starve the reacting species of monomer. Once the monomer is exhausted, the terminal groups of the chains are still activated. If we add more monomer to the reaction vessel, chain groivth will restart. This technique provides us with a uniquely controllable system in which we can add different monomers to living chains to create block copolymers. 

For analyzing structure-property relationships, a variety of PEO-g-PVA copolymers were prepared, differing in the VAc-to-PEO ratio and the molar mass of PEO. The analysis of the copolymers by IR and 1H- and 13C-NMR showed the presence of both PEO and PVA. A small C=0 absorption was still present and was explained by a nonquantitative saponification. SEC showed polydispersities (Mw/M ) of around 5, with a small tailing to the low molar mass side. The latter was probably caused by the relatively low molar mass PVA homopolymer formed by the chain transfer reaction of VAc, both to the PEO and its acetate functionality. 

Metal ions of transition and other elements of variable valency, e.g. Ce, Co, Fe, V, Mn, etc., are known to oxidize polysaccharides rather selectively, producing macroradicals as intermediates which are capable of adding vinyl monomers and form graft copolymers. These initiators are redox systems which differ from those previously described by not producing free radicals of low molecular weight. Only macroradicals on the substrate are formed in the redox reaction. Some homopolymer may still be formed in the process, e.g. due to oxidation of monomer or other side reactions. ... 

The trick used in asyrmnetric inclusion polymerization is to perform the reaction in a rigid and chiral environment. With more specific reference to chirality transmission, the choice between the two extreme hypotheses, influence of the starting radical (which is chiral because it comes from a PHTP molecule), or influence of the chirality of the channel (in which the monomers and the growing chain are included), was made in favor of the second by means of an experiment of block copolymerization. This reaction was conducted so as to interpose between the starting chiral radical and the chiral polypentadiene block a long nonchiral polymer block (formed of isoprene units) (352), 93. The iso-prene-pentadiene block copolymer so obtained is still optically active and the... 

A second route is termed sequential anionic polymerization. More recently, also controlled radical techniques can be applied successfully for the sequential preparation of block copolymers but still with a less narrow molar mass distribution of the segments and the final product. In both cases, one starts with the polymerization of monomer A. After it is finished, monomer B is added and after this monomer is polymerized completely again monomer A is fed into the reaction mixture. This procedure is applied for the production of styrene/buta-diene/styrene and styrene/isoprene/styrene triblock copolymers on industrial scale. It can also be used for the preparation of multiblock copolymers. 

A variation of the sequential anionic polymerization is the use of dianions as initiator, like sodium naphthalene. One starts with the polymerization of monomer A. Then monomer B is fed to the reaction mixture which adds immediately to the living anions at each end of block A and thus leads to a triblock copolymer with an A-middle block and two B-outer blocks. This triblock copolymer is still alive and repetition of the above procedure results in a multiblock copolymer (see Example 3-49). 

Hawker et al. 2001 Hawker and Wooley 2005). Recent developments in living radical polymerization allow the preparation of structurally well-defined block copolymers with low polydispersity. These polymerization methods include atom transfer free radical polymerization (Coessens et al. 2001), nitroxide-mediated polymerization (Hawker et al. 2001), and reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (Chiefari et al. 1998). In addition to their ease of use, these approaches are generally more tolerant of various functionalities than anionic polymerization. However, direct polymerization of functional monomers is still problematic because of changes in the polymerization parameters upon monomer modification. As an alternative, functionalities can be incorporated into well-defined polymer backbones after polymerization by coupling a side chain modifier with tethered reactive sites (Shenhar et al. 2004 Carroll et al. 2005 Malkoch et al. 2005). The modification step requires a clean (i.e., free from side products) and quantitative reaction so that each site has the desired chemical structures. Otherwise it affords poor reproducibility of performance between different batches. 

The copolymerization product was soluble in DMF and in chloroform. When the reaction was complete the product was precipitated with methanol, redissolved in chloroform, reprecipitated with methanol, and then dried. Hydrolysis of the copolymer followed by separation and analysis shows that one of the products of the hydrolysis is poly(vinyl alcohol) with molecular weight similar to that of the initial PVA. All these findings lead to the conclusion that by the copolymerization of two different multimonomers a copolymer with two ladder-type blocks can be obtained. However, the possibility that the copolymer is slightly branched cannot be excluded, and the assumption that mainly ladder-type, linear structure exists still needs confirmation. 

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