Poly(acrylonitrile-co-vinylcatecholborane): A new precursor for carbon containing B/C, B/N and B/O species

This paper describes a new PAN copolymer, poly(acrylonitrile-co-vinylcatecholborane), which is a precursor for carbon material containing B/C, B/N and B/O species in its molecular structures. Vinylcatecholborane, containing an appropriate protecting group in the borane moiety, can be copolymerized with acrylonitrile to high molecular weight copolymers under free radical polymerization conditions. The copolymers are processible by solution and melt methods. From ¹¹B NMR studies, a clear B-N complex was formed in poly(acrylonitrile-co-vinylcatecholborane) copolymer. The carbonation and oxidative studies of poly(acrylnitrile-co-vinylcatecholborane) indicate effective interconversions of copolymers to various graphite-like structures containing B/C, B/N and B/O species, which show significantly higher oxidative stability than pure carbon material obtained from PAN under the same conditions.