Synthesis and polymerization of a new norbornene-containing monomer

POLY 200

Liang Chen, lchen@chem.umn.edu and Marc A. Hillmyer, hillmyer@chem.umn.edu. Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, 207 Pleasant St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455
5-[2-(4-Vinyl-phenyl)-ethyl]-bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene (NSt) was successfully synthesized via a simple Grignard reaction, purified and characterized by EI-MS, NMR, and IR spectroscopies. We demonstrated that by anionic or free radical polymerization of NSt, linear polystyrene containing pendant norbornene functionality was produced in a controlled manner. In addition, by ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of NSt, a highly branched polymer with 4-vinyl phenyl pendant groups was formed. Furthermore, norbornene-functionalized diblock copolymers were prepared through reversible fragmentation-addition chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of NSt, using an appropriate polymeric chain transfer agent (CTA). All polymers were characterized by SEC and 1H-NMR spectroscopy.