The polymerization of 3-chloro-1-propyne and 3-bromo-1-propyne with Mocl5 and WCL6 based initiators and the structure of the resulting polymers

The WCl₆ and MoCl₅ initiated polymerizations of 3-chloro-1-propyne and 3-bromo-1-propyne were performed in both halogenated and aliphatic non-nucleophilic and in aromatic nucleophilic solvents. The structure of the obtained polymers suggested that the polymerization reaction occurs in two steps. In both nucleophilic and non-nucleophilic solvents, the first step consists of the metathesis polymerization of 3-chloro(bromo)-1-propyne followed by electrophilic cis–trans isomerization leading to polymers containing trans-cisoidal allyl chloride or bromide structural units. When the polymerization is performed in non-nucleophilic solvents, in the second step an intramolecular electrophilic addition followed by elimination takes place. The resulting polymers contain a highly conjugated cyclopentadiene ladder structure. When the polymerization is performed in nucleophilic aromatic solvents, the intramolecular electrophilic addition competes with the electrophilic substitution of the solvent resulting in polymers containing high concentrations of arylpropenyl structural units. Subsequently, depending on the nucleophilicity of the polymerization solvent, the polymer structure contains structural units based on cyclopentadiene and/or arylpropenyl groups.