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Catalytic living ring-opening metathesis polymerization with Grubbs’ second- and third-generation catalysts

Nature Chemistry volume 11, pages 488–494 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

In a conventional living ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP), an equal number of ruthenium complexes to the number of polymer chains synthesized are required. This can lead to high loadings of ruthenium complexes when aiming for shorter polymers. Here, a reversible chain-transfer agent was used to produce living ROMP polymers from norbornene derivatives using catalytic amounts of Grubbs’ ruthenium complexes. The polymers obtained by this method showed all of the characteristics of a living polymerization (that is, good molecular weight control, narrow molecular weight dispersities and the ability to form block copolymers). Monomers carrying functional moieties such as ferrocene, coumarin or a triisopropylsilyl-protected primary alcohol could also be catalytically polymerized in a living fashion. The method presented follows a degenerative chain-transfer process and is more economical and environmentally friendly compared with previous living ROMP procedures as it utilizes only catalytic amounts of costly and toxic ruthenium complexes.

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Fig. 1: Structure of the metathesis catalysts, CTAs and monomers investigated in this study.
Fig. 2: 1H NMR spectra (CD2Cl2; 400 MHz) of the reaction of CTA1 or CTA2 with POLY-G3.
Fig. 3: Possible reactions of CTA2 with the POLY-G3 ruthenium carbene complex.
Fig. 4: Mechanism of catalytic living ROMP, involving degenerative metathesis chain transfer.
Fig. 5: Plots of the polymer number average molecular weight versus the monomer-to-CTA ratio.

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All data generated or analysed during this study are included within the article and its Supplementary Information files.

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Acknowledgements

A.F.M.K., M.Y. and P.L. thank the Swiss National Science Foundation for funding. I.K.T. thanks the National of Competence in Research ‘Bio-inspired Nanomaterials’ for a postdoctoral fellowship.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Mohammad Yasir, Peng Liu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Mohammad Yasir, Peng Liu, Iris K. Tennie & Andreas F. M. Kilbinger

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Contributions

M.Y., P.L. and A.F.M.K. designed the experiments. M.Y. and P.L. performed the experiments. M.Y., I.K.T. and A.F.M.K. wrote the main manuscript text. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Andreas F. M. Kilbinger.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary information

Comprehensive information on compound synthesis and characterization, 1H and 13C-NMR spectra, size exclusion chromatography traces and MALDI-ToF mass spectrometric data.

Supplementary data sets

Raw data related to the 1H and 13C-NMR spectra shown in the manuscript and the supplementary information. The NMR spectroscopic data is reported as ASCII data pairs (ppm value, intensity). Size exclusion chromatography data related to figures in the Supplementary Information is reported as ASCII data pairs (time, intensity). MALDI-ToF mass spectrometric data related to Figures in the supplementary information is reported as ASCII data pairs (m/z, intensity). Data referring to the manuscript is found in a separate folder to the supplementary information. The figure numbers are reported as part of the filename.

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Yasir, M., Liu, P., Tennie, I.K. et al. Catalytic living ring-opening metathesis polymerization with Grubbs’ second- and third-generation catalysts. Nat. Chem. 11, 488–494 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-019-0239-4

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