Skip to main content
Kent Academic Repository

Correlation of structure and molecular weight distributions during the formation of poly(methylphenylsilylene) by the Wurtz reductive-coupling reaction

Jones, Richard G., Wong, William K.C., Holder, Simon J. (1998) Correlation of structure and molecular weight distributions during the formation of poly(methylphenylsilylene) by the Wurtz reductive-coupling reaction. Organometallics, 17 (1). pp. 59-64. ISSN 0276-7333. (doi:10.1021/om970696d) (KAR id:17388)

Abstract

Variations of yields and molecular weight parameters of poly(methylphenylsilylene) formed through sodium-mediated Wurtz-type reductive coupling of dichloromethylphenylsilane in refluxing toluene are described. The intermediate molecular weight fractions within the polymodal distributions that result from such syntheses are shown to correlate well with the length of all-trans sequences within the polymer as revealed through the near-ultraviolet spectra of the fractionated polymers. The origins of the polymodal distributions are explained as being the consequence of a competition between;termination through a backbiting reaction and a continued growth reaction whenever additions in gauche conformation arise. The likelihoods of such additions are reasoned to increase with the lengths of the all-traits sequences-that arise from the preceding additions, and the termination reaction is rationalized as having a maximum probability when the polymer consists of only one such sequence. The reasoning is shown to correlate with the polydispersities of the intermediate and high molecular weight fractions within the overall molecular weight distribution of the polymer. Reasoning from this explanation of the mechanism of the polymerization, it is shown that it is possible to obtain high molecular weight, monomodal poly(methylphenylsilylene) in high yield from syntheses conducted in refluxing tetrahydrofuran.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1021/om970696d
Subjects: Q Science > QD Chemistry
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Physics and Astronomy
Depositing User: M.A. Ziai
Date Deposited: 04 Apr 2009 23:45 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:55 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/17388 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Jones, Richard G..

Creator's ORCID:
CReDIT Contributor Roles:

Holder, Simon J..

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8977-9257
CReDIT Contributor Roles:
  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.