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Updated: Aug 18, 2025
Depolymerizable Olefinic Polymers Based on Fused-Ring Cyclooctene Monomers
Published on: December 16, 2022
Converting Commodity Polyolefins to Electronic Materials through Borane-Catalyzed Alkene Isomerization
Teruhiko Saito1,2, Megan R Hill1, Shao-Xiong Lennon Luo1
1Department of Chemistry Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States.
Abstract:
Novel approaches to the functionalization of commodity polymers could provide avenues for the synthesis of materials for next-generation electronic devices. Herein, we present a catalytic method for the conversion of common unsaturated polymers such as polybutadiene, polyisoprene, and styrene-butadiene copolymers [e.g., polystyrene-block-polybutadiene-block-polystyrene and poly(styrene-stat-butadiene)] to poly(acetylene) (PA)-based multiblock copolymers with conjugation lengths of up to ∼20, making them potentially suitable for electronics applications. Additionally, we demonstrate the application of this method to the formal conversion of polyethylene─the most widely produced thermoplastic─into PA-containing multiblock materials.
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