Ferrocene-Containing Multifunctional Polyethers: Monomer Sequence Monitoring via Quantitative ¹³C NMR Spectroscopy in Bulk

Abstract

Ferrocenyl glycidyl ether (fcGE) and allyl glycidyl ether (AGE) are copolymerized via living anionic ring-opening polymerization to generate polyfunctional copolymers with molecular weights up to 40 300 g/mol and low molecular weight dispersities (<i>M</i>_w/<i>M</i>_n < 1.18). Copolymerizations were carried out in bulk at 100 °C and unexpectedly found to proceed without any isomerization of the allyl double bonds. The copolymerization behavior of fcGE and AGE was monitored by <i>in situ</i> quantitative ¹³C NMR kinetic measurements in bulk, evidencing the formation of random copolymers under these conditions, showing no gradient of comonomer incorporation. The redox-active behavior of the copolymers and homopolymers of fcGE was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV). In order to demonstrate possible postmodification reactions, the random copolymers were modified with <i>N</i>-acetyl-l-cysteine methyl ester via a thiol–ene addition. All polymers have furthermore been characterized by ¹H NMR spectroscopy, DOSY ¹H NMR spectroscopy, size exclusion chromatography (SEC), and MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry