Investigation of Tacticity and Living Characteristics of Photoredox-Mediated Metal-Free Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization

Recycling of Polydicyclopentadiene Enabled with N-Coordinated Boronic Ester Bonds

In this contribution, the transformation of polydicyclopentadiene (PDCPD) from thermoset into vitrimer is introduced. First, two N-coordinated diboronic diols are successfully synthesized via the reaction of N,N,N-tri(2-hydroxyethyl)amine and/or N,N,N",N"-tetrakis(2-hydroxyethyl)ethylene diamine with 4-(hydroxymethyl) phenylboronic acid and then they are transformed into two N-coordinated cyclic boronic diacrylates. The latter two dienes carrying electron-withdrawing substituents are used for the ring opening insertion metathesis copolymerization (ROIMP) of dicyclopentadiene to afford the crosslinked PDCPD. In the crosslinked PDCPD networks, N-coordinated cyclic boronic ester bonds are integrated. It is found that the as-obtained PDCPD networks displayed the excellent reprocessing properties. In the meantime, the fracture toughness is significantly improved. Owing to the inclusion of N-coordinated cyclic boronic ester bonds, the modified PDCPDs have the thermal stability much superior to plain PDCPD. The results reported in this work demonstrate that PDCPD can successfully be transformed into the vitrimers via the introduction of N-coordinated cyclic boronic ester bonds.

Rational Design of Photocatalysts for Controlled Polymerization: Effect of Structures on Photocatalytic Activities

Over the past decade, the use of photocatalysts (PCs) in controlled polymerization has brought new opportunities in sophisticated macromolecular synthesis. However, the selection of PCs in these systems has been typically based on laborious trial-and-error strategies. To tackle this limitation, computer-guided rational design of PCs based on knowledge of structure-property-performance relationships has emerged. These rational strategies provide rapid and economic methodologies for tuning the performance and functionality of a polymerization system, thus providing further opportunities for polymer science. This review provides an overview of PCs employed in photocontrolled polymerization systems and summarizes their progression from early systems to the current state-of-the-art. Background theories on electronic transitions are also introduced to establish the structure-property-performance relationships from a perspective of quantum chemistry. Typical examples for each type of structure-property relationships are then presented to enlighten future design of PCs for photocontrolled polymerization.

Reusable polymer brush-based photocatalysts for PET-RAFT polymerization

Fluorescein polymer-brush functionalized glass beads synthesize polymers via photoelectron reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (PET-RAFT) polymerization. These shelf stable heterogeneous catalysts can be recycled after simple filtration.

Metal-Free Cationic Polymerization of Vinyl Ethers with Strict Temporal Control by Employing an Organophotocatalyst

By virtue of spatiotemporal control over the chain propagating, visible-light-regulated organocatalytic photoredox cationic polymerization provides an appealing approach for the construction of metal-free, well-defined polymers and materials. However, so far, organic photocatalysts capable of mediated cationic polymerization of vinyl ethers are quite limited, and the photocontrol or efficiency is often eroded due to the difficulty in achieving a good activation-deactivation balance, which is greatly dependent on the redox property of the catalyst. Here, we introduce a new type of organic photocatalysts, bisphosphonium salts, which show high performance in the photoregulated reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer cationic polymerization of vinyl ethers and allow the synthesis of poly(vinyl ethers) with predictable molecular weights and narrow dispersities at low ppm catalyst loadings under visible light. In particular, the tunable redox potential and excellent stability endow the bisphosphonium salts strict temporal control, thus enabling the metal-free polymerization with a halt in a long dark period.

Visible light-regulated organocatalytic ring-opening polymerization of lactones by harnessing excited state acidity

A metal-free ring-opening polymerization of lactones has been developed using PyOH as a photocatalyst under visible light mediation.

A highly efficient metal-free protocol for the synthesis of linear polydicyclopentadiene

We have developed a highly efficient synthesis of linear polydicyclopentadiene (pDCPD) via photoredox mediated metal-free ring-opening metathesis polymerization (MF-ROMP) and investigated the T_g–M_n dependence of linear pDCPD.

Photochemical methods in metathesis reactions

Metathesis reactions are one of the most reliable and prevalent ways of creating a C-C bond in synthesis. Photochemical variants exist, and they have proven extremely useful for the construction of complex molecules, from natural products to Möbius rings. A variety of starting materials can undergo photometathesis reactions, including alkenes, alkynes, carbonyls, thiocarbonyls, and ketenes. While many of these reactions proceed with UV light and require harsh conditions, a handful of new techniques for visible-light photometathesis reactions have appeared recently. Given the current developments in visible-light photocatalysis, we believe that many more visible light photometathesis reactions await discovery. In this first review on the subject of photometathesis, we have gathered the relevant literature to give the reader an in-depth understanding of the field, and to inspire further development and synthetic application of these fascinating reactions.

Metal-Free Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization: From Concept to Creation

Ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP), which is derived from transition-metal-based olefin metathesis, has evolved into one of the most prevalent technologies for making functional polymeric materials in academia and in industry. The initial discovery of and advances in ROMP used ill-defined mixtures of metal salts to initiate polymerization. The initiators most commonly used today, developed with tremendous efforts, are well-defined metal-alkylidene complexes that have enabled a good mechanistic understanding of the polymerization as well as improvement of the initiators' activity, stability, and functional group tolerance.The evolution of ROMP has been decidedly metal-centric, with the path to accolades being paved primarily in ruthenium-, molybdenum-, and tungsten-based systems. Our departure from the ROMP trailhead was inspired in part by recent breakthroughs in radical-mediated polymerizations, whereby their mechanisms were leveraged to develop metal-free reaction conditions. Inventing a metal-free complement to traditional ROMP would essentially involve stepping away from decades of inorganic and organometallic developments, but with the promise of crossing new synthetic capabilities and curiosities.Driven by this motivation, as well as a community-inspired desire to develop "greener" controlled polymerizations, our team pioneered the search for, and discovery of, a wholly organic alternative to traditional metal-mediated ROMP. In this Account, we review our recent efforts to develop metal-free ring-opening metathesis polymerization (MF-ROMP), which is inspired by previous reports in electro- and photo-mediated organic transformations.This work began with an exploration of the direct oxidation of enol ethers and the propensity of the ensuing radical cations to initiate ROMP. To overcome limitations of the electrochemical conditions, a photoredox-mediated method was investigated next, using photoexcited pyrylium salts to oxidize the enol ethers. With this system, we demonstrated the ability to produce ROMP products and temporally control the polymerization.Further investigations into different aspects of the reaction included monomer scope, functional group tolerance, the impact of changing photocatalyst properties, and the ability to control molecular weight. The unique mechanism of MF-ROMP, along with the relative ease of synthesizing enol ether initiators, enabled the preparation of numerous polymeric materials that are hard to access through traditional metal-mediated pathways. At the end of this Account, we provide a perspective on future opportunities in this emerging area.

New Redox Strategies in Organic Synthesis by Means of Electrochemistry and Photochemistry

As the breadth of radical chemistry grows, new means to promote and regulate single-electron redox activities play increasingly important roles in driving modern synthetic innovation. In this regard, photochemistry and electrochemistry-both considered as niche fields for decades-have seen an explosive renewal of interest in recent years and gradually have become a cornerstone of organic chemistry. In this Outlook article, we examine the current state-of-the-art in the areas of electrochemistry and photochemistry, as well as the nascent area of electrophotochemistry. These techniques employ external stimuli to activate organic molecules and imbue privileged control of reaction progress and selectivity that is challenging to traditional chemical methods. Thus, they provide alternative entries to known and new reactive intermediates and enable distinct synthetic strategies that were previously unimaginable. Of the many hallmarks, electro- and photochemistry are often classified as "green" technologies, promoting organic reactions under mild conditions without the necessity for potent and wasteful oxidants and reductants. This Outlook reviews the most recent growth of these fields with special emphasis on conceptual advances that have given rise to enhanced accessibility to the tools of the modern chemical trade.

Visible light-mediated ring-opening polymerization of lactones based on the excited state acidity of ESPT molecules

A visible light-regulated ring-opening polymerization of lactones has been developed based on the excited state acidity of ESPT molecules.

Integration of metal-free ring-opening metathesis polymerization and organocatalyzed ring-opening polymerization through a bifunctional initiator

We demonstrate the first integration of metal-free ROMP and organocatalyzed ROP to provide entirely metal-free syntheses of block copolymers.

Enhancing Temporal Control and Enabling Chain-End Modification in Photoregulated Cationic Polymerizations by Using Iridium-Based Catalysts

Gaining temporal control over chain growth is a key challenge in the enhancement of controlled living polymerizations. Though research on photocontrolled polymerizations is still in its infancy, it has already proven useful in the development of previously inaccessible materials. Photocontrol has now been extended to cationic polymerizations using 2,4,6-triarylpyrylium salts as photocatalysts. Despite the ability to stop polymerization for a short time, monomer conversion was observed over long dark periods. Improved catalyst systems based on Ir complexes give optimal temporal control over chain growth. The excellent stability of these complexes and the ability to tune the excited and ground state redox potentials to regulate the number of monomer additions per cation formed allows polymerization to be halted for more than 20 hours. The excellent stability of these iridium catalysts in the presence of more nucleophilic species enables chain-end functionalization of these polymers.