An Efficient Precatalyst Approach for the Synthesis of Thiazole-Containing Conjugated Polymers via Cu-Catalyzed...

Over the past decade, direct arylation polymerization (DArP) has emerged as a facile and sustainable methodology for the synthesis of conjugated polymers. Recently, we developed Cu-catalyzed DArP (Cu-DArP) as a low-cost, Pd-free synthetic pathway, which enables conjugated polymers to be synthesized with high molecular weights and minimization of defects. However, the lack of study on the use of Cu-precatalysts in small-molecule direct arylation poses significant limitations for Cu-DArP to potentially overtake conventional Pd-catalyzed methodology, such as the low solubility and stability of the previously employed CuI. Therefore, in this report, we decide to explore the utility of a well-defined, easy-to-prepare, highly soluble, and stable precatalyst, Cu(phen)(PPh₃)Br, as an alternative to the CuI, 1,10-phenanthroline catalytic system previously used for Cu-DArP. Herein, we report a drastic improvement of Cu-DArP methodology for the synthesis of 5,5'-bithiazole (5-BTz)-based conjugated polymers enabled by an efficient precatalyst approach, affording polymers with good M_n (up to 16.5 kDa) and excellent yields (up to 79%). ¹H NMR studies reveal the exclusion of homocoupling defects, which further verifies the excellent stability of Cu(phen)(PPh₃)Br compared to CuI. Furthermore, we were able to decrease the catalyst loading from 15 mol % to only 5 mol % (M_n of 11.8 kDa, 64% yield), which is unprecedented when aryl bromides are employed for Cu-DArP. Significantly, 5-BTz was shown to be inactive under various of Pd-DArP conditions, which demonstrates the high compatibility of Cu-DArP as the only pathway for the C-H activation of the 5-BTz unit and a clear case demonstrating an advantage of Cu-DArP relative to Pd-DArP.