Ring-Opening Polymerization of Cyclic Phosphonates: Access to Inorganic Polymers with a PV-O Main Chain

Marius I Arz; Vincent T Annibale; Nicole L Kelly; John V Hanna; Ian Manners

doi:10.1021/jacs.8b13435

Ring-Opening Polymerization of Cyclic Phosphonates: Access to Inorganic Polymers with a P^V-O Main Chain

J Am Chem Soc. 2019 Feb 20;141(7):2894-2899. doi: 10.1021/jacs.8b13435. Epub 2019 Feb 6.

Authors

Marius I Arz¹, Vincent T Annibale¹, Nicole L Kelly^{2

3}, John V Hanna², Ian Manners^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry , University of Bristol , Cantock's Close , Bristol BS8 1TS , United Kingdom.
² Department of Physics , University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road , Coventry CV4 7AL , United Kingdom.
³ MAS CDT, Senate House, University of Warwick , Coventry CV4 7AL , United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Chemistry , University of Victoria , Victoria , British Columbia V8W 3V6 , Canada.

PMID: 30726071
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b13435

Abstract

We describe a new class of inorganic polymeric materials featuring a main chain consisting of P^V-O bonds and aryl side groups, which was obtained with >70 repeat units by ring-opening polymerization of cyclic phosphonates. This monomer-polymer system was found to be dynamic in solution enabling selective depolymerization under dilute conditions, which can be tuned by varying the substituents. The polymers show high thermal stability to weight loss and can be easily fabricated into self-standing thin films. Structural characterizations of the cyclic 6- and 12-membered ring precursors are also described.