RAFT polymer cross-coupling with boronic acids

Chem Sci. 2018 Jul 18;9(37):7370-7375. doi: 10.1039/c8sc01862f. eCollection 2018 Oct 7.

Abstract

The ability to modify the thiocarbonylthio end-groups of RAFT polymers is important for applications where an inert or highly functionalised material is required. Here we report a copper promoted cross-coupling reaction between RAFT polymer end-groups and aryl boronic acids. This method gives high conversion to the modified polymers, and is compatible with a wide variety of functional molecules.