Synfacts 2010(8): 0885-0885  
DOI: 10.1055/s-0030-1257831
Synthesis of Materials and Unnatural Products
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart ˙ New York

Naturally Renewable Polymers from an Innovative Living Polymerization

Contributor(s): Timothy M. Swager, Stefanie A. Sydlik
G. M. Miyake, Y. Zhang, E. Y.-X. Chen*
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
22 July 2010 (online)

Significance

Naturally renewable monomers were polymerized in a living fashion using an ­ambiphilic silicon propagating species consisting of both the nucleophilic silyl ketene acetal (SKA) initiating moiety and the electrophilic silylium catalyst. Uniquely, the +SiR3 catalyst is derived directly from the initiator with a catalytic amount of a trityl borate activator. These conditions are a refreshing twist on classic group-transfer polymerization.