Metal-Free Hydrosilylation Polymerization by Borane Catalyst

Abstract

The first example of metal-free hydrosilylation polymerization between dienes and disilanes is developed by using a borane catalyst, B(C6F5)3 to replace precious transition-metal-based systems. Under the easy-to-handle and mild conditions, a step-growth polymerization of two readily available diene and disilane units was achieved with high degrees of polymerization. Various combinations of dienes and disilanes produced polycarbosilanes with a broad range of structures and properties.

Keywords: borane catalyst; hydrosilylation; metal-free catalysis; polycarbosilanes; polymerization.