Surface-initiated ring-opening metathesis polymerization (SI-ROMP) to attach a tethered organic corona onto CdSe/ZnS core/shell quantum dots

Surface-Initiated Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization (SI-ROMP): History, General Features, and Applications in Surface Engineering with Polymer Brushes

Surface-Initiated Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization (SI-ROMP) has attracted great attention in the past two decades because of its high efficiency in decorating material surfaces with functional polymer brushes. To fill the vacancy of review articles in SI-ROMP, this article is aimed at giving an overview of the history, the general features and procedures, and applications of SI-ROMP, guiding future researchers in this field. In general, SI-ROMP consists of three main steps: surface functionalization with olefin anchors, attachment of catalyst to the surface, and polymerization from the surface. Several metal-based catalysts for ROMP in solution have been developed, but most SI-ROMP reactions use the ruthenium-based Grubbs catalysts. SI-ROMP enables the rapid growth of polymer films on a large variety of substrates such as silica, gold, graphene oxides, carbon nanotubes, metal oxide nanowires, and composite polymer membranes. There are many methods to characterize these polymer brushes. In addition, some novel techniques have been developed to precisely control the surface polymer growth and lead to polymer films with unique structures and functions. Up to this day, SI-ROMP can be applied to the surface engineering of many novel materials, including ultrahydrophobic surfaces, microfluidic channels, electric devices, ion exchange media, and responsive surfaces.

Application of olefin metathesis in the synthesis of functionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) and POSS-containing polymeric materials

This mini-review summarizes the applications of olefin metathesis in synthesis and functionalization of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) and POSS-containing polymeric materials. Three types of processes, i.e., cross metathesis (CM) of vinyl-substituted POSS with terminal olefins, acyclic diene metathesis (ADMET) copolymerization of divinyl-substituted POSS with α,ω-dienes and ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of POSS-substituted norbornene (or other ROMP susceptible cycloolefins) are discussed. Emphasis was put on the synthetic and catalytic aspects rather than on the properties and applications of synthesized materials.

Recent advances in ruthenium-based olefin metathesis

Ruthenium-based olefin metathesis catalysts, known for their functional group tolerance and broad applicability in organic synthesis and polymer science, continue to evolve as an enabling technology in these areas. A discussion of recent mechanistic investigations is followed by an overview of selected applications.