Polyboranes, their synthesis and applications in functional polyolefins

This paper summarizes our research results on the synthesis of polyboranes and their applications in the functionalization of polyolefins. The method involves the borane monomers and transitional metal catalysts, such as Ziegler-Natta and metathesis catalysts. Our results show that most trialkylboranes are stable to a broad range of transitional metal catalysts. The borane-containing olefins can be homo- or copolymerized with olefins to the corresponding polyborane homo- and copolymers. The molecular weights of polyboranes are usually very high. Some of the reasons are attributed to the good solubility of polyboranes in hydrocarbon solutions during the polymerization processes. In turn, the borane groups in polymers are easily converted to other functional groups, such as hydroxyl groups, under mild conditions. Some high molecular weight functional polyolefins have been prepared with unique polymer structures, such as isotactic comb-like functional polymers, block copolymers, and alternating functional copolymers.