Synthesis and Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization of a Strained trans-Silacycloheptene and Single-Molecule Mechanics of Its Polymer.
The cis- and trans-isomers of a silacycloheptene were selectively synthesized by the alkylation of a silyl dianion, a novel approach to strained cycloalkenes. The trans-silacycloheptene (trans-SiCH) was significantly more strained than the cis isomer, as predicted by quantum chemical calculations and confirmed by crystallographic signatures of a twisted alkene. Each isomer exhibited distinct reactivity toward ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP), where only trans-SiCH afforded high-molar-mass polymer under enthalpy-driven ROMP. Hypothesizing that the introduction of silicon might result in increased molecular compliance at large extensions, we compared poly(trans-SiCH) to organic polymers by single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS). Force-extension curves from SMFS showed that poly(trans-SiCH) is more easily overstretched than two carbon-based analogues, polycyclooctene and polybutadiene, with stretching constants that agree well with the results of computational simulations.
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- 34 Chemical sciences
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Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- General Chemistry
- 40 Engineering
- 34 Chemical sciences
- 03 Chemical Sciences