Synthesis and Characterization of Polyacetylene with Side-chain Thiophene Functionality

A new polyacetylene derivative with electroactive thiophene substituent, namely poly(2-methylbut-2-enyl thiophene-3-carboxylate) was synthesized and characterized. For this purpose, novel acetylene monomer was synthesized by the reaction of 3-thiophenecarboxylic acid with propargyl bromide and polymerized with a Rh catalyst to give the corresponding polymer. The chemical structure of the polymer was characterized to comprise the conjugated backbone and electroactive thiophene side group. UV spectral changes of the polymer with temperature were also studied. The polymer exhibited better thermal stability than the unsubstituted polyacetylenes

Synthesis of liquid crystalline graft and block copolymers by sequential cationic and free-radical polymerizations

Abstraet-New graft and block copolymers were synthesized by two procedures, each consisting of a sequence of cationic and free-radical polymerization reactions. One polymer component was a liquid crystalline side-group polymer, with the other polymer component being incorporated in crystalline grafts or in amorphous blocks. The copolymers were microphase-separated and underwent thermal transitions (glass, melting, isotropization) of each individual component

Metal Free Reversible-Deactivation Radical Polymerizations: Advances, Challenges, and Opportunities

A considerable amount of the worldwide industrial production of synthetic polymers is currently based on radical polymerization methods. The steadily increasing demand on high performance plastics and tailored polymers which serve specialized applications is driven by the development of new techniques to enable control of polymerization reactions on a molecular level. Contrary to conventional radical polymerization, reversible-deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP) techniques provide the possibility to prepare polymers with well-defined structures and functionalities. The review provides a comprehensive summary over the development of the three most important RDRP methods, which are nitroxide mediated radical polymerization, atom transfer radical polymerization and reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization. The focus thereby is set on the newest developments in transition metal free systems, which allow using these techniques for biological or biomedical applications. After each section selected examples from materials synthesis and application to biomedical materials are summarized

Ring-Opening Polymerization of 1,3-Benzoxazines via Borane Catalyst

Tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane was used as Lewis acid catalyst to lower the ring opening polymerization temperature (ROP) of 1,3-benzoxazines. Dynamic scanning calorimeter studies revealed that on-set ROP temperatures were decreased as much as 98 °C for model benzoxazine compounds. Catalytic polymerization was traced by both FTIR and 1H NMR, and revealed that tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane acted rapidly and fast curing achieved. Moreover, thermal properties of resulting polybenzoxazines were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and found out that the catalyst has high impact on char yield and even 3 mol % catalyst augmented char yields up to 13%

One-Pot Synthesis of Amide-Functional Main-Chain Polybenzoxazine Precursors

Main-chain polybenzoxazines containing amide linkages were successfully prepared in one pot. Three different polymers were synthesized by reacting 3,4-dihydrocoumarine (DHC) and paraformaldehyde with 1,3-diaminopropane or 1,6-diaminohexane or Jeffamine ED-900. The one-pot reaction proceeded through the combination of the ring-opening of DHC with amines, and subsequent Mannich and ring-closure reactions occurring in a cascading manner. The obtained polymer from Jeffamine exhibited good film-forming properties, and free-standing flexible films were easily solvent- casted on Teflon plates. All polymeric precursors were characterized by spectroscopic analysis, and their curing behavior and thermal stability were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)