Water soluble poly(ethylene oxide) functionalized norbornene polymers

The synthesis of three different poly(ethylene oxide) macromonomers with a norbornene and oxanorbornene end group is presented. The macromonomers were polymerized to comb‐polymers by ring‐opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) using Grubbs' Catalyst G3 to produce water soluble polymers with polydispersities between 1.04 and 1.30 and molecular weights between 14,000 and 50,000 g/mol. Characterization by static and dynamic light scattering reveals that the comb‐polymers with norbornene backbone are molecularly disperse in aqueous solution, while the oxanorbornene‐backbone polymers form small water‐soluble aggregates. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 2640–2648, 2008     

Metallocarbonyl complexes of bromo‐ and dibromomaleimide: synthesis and biochemical application

Bromomaleimides react with cysteine residues to form thiomaleimides that can be further cleaved with TCEP (tris(2‐carboxyethyl)phosphine) to regenerate the cysteine derivatives. Herein we report the preparation of new organometallic Fe complexes containing monobromo and dibromo maleimide ligands. Both of these complexes were characterised by X‐ray diffraction. Organometallic bromomaleimide derivatives were reacted with the thiol‐containing biomolecules: cysteine ethyl ester hydrochloride, glutathione and papain. These cysteine‐containing molecules underwent a substitution reaction with metallocarbonyl bromo‐ or dibromo maleimide complexes, followed by an addition reaction to the thio‐maleimide double bond if thiol was added in excess. The metallocarbonyl mono‐bromomaleimide complex was shown to inhibit the peptidase activity of the enzyme papain. The resulting papain–maleimide product could be cleaved by addition of TCEP to regenerate the catalytically active enzyme. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Water‐soluble polymers from acid‐functionalized norbornenes

Unprotected exo,exo‐5‐norbornene‐2,3‐dicarboxylic acid and exo,exo‐7‐oxa‐5‐norbornene‐2,3‐dicarboxylic acid were polymerized via ring‐opening metathesis polymerization. This reaction yielded polymers with molecular weights (M_n from GPC) ranging from 31 to 242 kg/mol and polydispersity indices between 1.05 and 1.12, using Grubbs' third generation catalyst. The water solubility as a function of pH value of the polymers was investigated by dynamic light scattering (DLS). DLS and acid‐base titration revealed that the oxanorbornene polymer was water soluble over a wider pH range than its norbornene analog. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 1266–1273, 2009     

Bis(2-chloroethyl) ethenylphosphonate in the diels-alder reaction

The diene synthesis reactions of bis(2-chloroethyl) ethenylphosphonate with 3-methyl-3-thiolene 1,1-dioxide that generates isoprene under the reaction conditions, as well as with 2,3-dimethylbuta-1,3-diene, cyclohexa-1,3-diene, cyclopentadiene, furan, and anthracene are studied. A series of cycloalkenyl-and heterylphosphonates derived from cyclohexene, bicyclooctene, norbornene, oxanorbornene, and 9,10-dihydro-9,10-ethanoanthracene are synthesized.     

双水杨醛亚胺双核镍(Ⅱ)配合物降冰片烯加成聚合的研究

降冰片烯加成均聚产物具有好的热稳定性好和光学透明性,表现了优异的各向同性电性能,对金属具有很好的粘连附着性,可用于微电子器件的封装材料和液晶显示屏的保护涂层等领域,亦可作为耐高温工程材料使用,因而其制备和材料性能的研究备受学术界和企业界的青睐．降冰片烯加成聚合与传统的烯烃聚合具有许多相似     

Vinyl addition polymerization of norbornene with cationic (allyl)Ni catalysts: Mechanistic insights and characterization of first insertion products

Several cationic (allyl)Ni(II) complexes were synthesized and shown to be highly active for (2,3)‐vinyl addition polymerization of norbornene to yield polymers with low molecular weight distributions (MWDs) ranging from 1.4–1.9. In all cases slow initiation was followed by rapid propagation which prevents molecular weight control of the poly(norbornene). One of the intermediates in the polymerization process has been identified and characterized by NMR spectroscopy as the first insertion product resulting from the insertion of norbornene into the Ni? C allyl bond in cis‐exo fashion. This insertion product was synthesized independently and NMR studies showed that the first insertion of norbornene into the Ni? C allyl bond is a reversible process. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 2560–2573, 2009     

Characterization of geometric isomers of norbornene end-capped imides

Three geometric isomers from the thermal isomerization of methylene-4,4′-bis(endo-N-phenylbicyclo-[2.2.1]hept-2-ene-5,6-dicarboximide) ( I ) were chromatographically separated and isolated. Nmr spectroscopy was used to assign endo-endo ( I ), endo-exo ( II ), and exo-exo ( III ) configurations to each compound. The three isomers, which serve as model compounds for norbornene end-capped polyimides, were then characterized by several chromatographic, spectroscopic, and thermal techniques. Upon heating, each isomer was found to establish an equilibrium mixture of all three isomers. The possibility that the compounds react by different mechanisms in air and in nitrogen is proposed.     

‘Clickable’ cyclopentadienyl iron carbonyl complexes for bioorthogonal conjugation of mid‐infrared labels to a model protein and PAMAM dendrimer

Owing to the intrinsic limitations of the conventional bioconjugation methods involving native nucleophilic functions of proteins, we sought to develop alternative approaches to introduce metallocarbonyl infrared labels onto proteins on the basis of the [3 + 2] dipolar azide‐alkyne cycloaddition (AAC). To this end, two cyclopentadienyl iron dicarbonyl (Fp) complexes carrying a terminal or a strained alkyne handle were synthesized. Their reactivity was examined towards a model protein and poly (amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer, both carrying azido groups. While the copper (I)‐catalysed azide‐alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) proceeded smoothly with the terminal alkyne metallocarbonyl derivative, labelling by strain‐promoted azide‐alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) was less successful in terms of final coupling ratios. Infrared spectral characterization of the bioconjugates showed the presence of two bands in the 2000 cm^?1 region, owing to the stretching vibration modes of the carbonyl ligands of the Fp entities.     

Self-assembly with block copolymers through metal coordination of SCS-Pd(II) pincer complexes and pseudorotaxane formation

Poly(norbornene)-based block copolymers containing side chains of palladated pincer complexes/dibenzo[24]crown-8 or palladated pincer complexes/dibenzylammonium salts were synthesized. Noncovalent functionalization was accomplished with their corresponding recognition units through simple 1:1 addition with association constants (Ka) greater than 10(5) m(-1). The self-assembly processes were monitored by using both 1H NMR spectroscopy and isothermal titration calorimetry. In all cases, we found that the self-assembly of the recognition units along each polymer block does not preclude the self-assembly processes along the other block.     

Synthesis and DNA binding studies of Ni(II), Co(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) metal complexes of N1,N5-bis[pyridine-2-methylene]-thiocarbohydrazone Schiff-base ligand

The thiocarbohydrazone Schiff-base ligand with a nitrogen and sulphur donor was synthesized through condensation of pyridine-2-carbaldehyde and thiocarbohydrazide. Schiff-base ligands have the ability to conjugate with metal salts. A series of metal complexes with a general formula [MCl2(H2L)]·nH2O (MNi, Co, Cu and Zn) were synthesized by forming complexes of the N1,N5-bis[pyridine-2-methylene]-thiocarbohydrazone (H2L) Schiff-base ligand. These metal complexes and ligand were characterized by using ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy, physicochemical characterization, CHNS and conductivity. The biological activity of the synthesized ligand was investigated by using Escherichia coli DNA as target. The DNA interaction of the synthesized ligand and complexes on E. coli plasmid DNA was investigated in the aqueous medium by UV-Vis spectroscopy and the binding constant (Kb) was calculated. The DNA binding studies showed that the metal complexes had an improved interaction due to trans-geometrical isomers of the complexes than ligand isomers in cis-positions.     

Graft copolymers via ROMP and Diels–Alder click reaction strategy

Anthracene‐functionalized oxanorbornene monomer and oxanorbornenyl polystyrene (PS) with ω‐anthracene end‐functionalized macromonomer were first polymerized via ring‐opening metathesis polymerization using the first‐generation Grubbs' catalyst in dichloromethane at room temperature and then clicked with maleimide end‐functionalized polymers, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)‐MI, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)‐MI, and poly(tert‐butyl acrylate) (PtBA)‐MI in a Diels–Alder reaction in toluene at 120 °C to create corresponding graft copolymers, poly(oxanorbornene)‐g‐PEG, poly(oxanorbornene)‐g‐PMMA, and graft block copolymers, poly(oxanorbornene)‐g‐(PS‐b‐PEG), poly(oxanorbornene)‐g‐(PS‐b‐PMMA), and poly(oxanorbornene)‐g‐(PS‐b‐PtBA), respectively. Diels–Alder click reaction efficiency for graft copolymerization was monitored by UV–vis spectroscopy. The dn/dc values of graft copolymers and graft block copolymers were experimentally obtained using a triple detection gel permeation chromatography and subsequently introduced to the software so as to give molecular weights, intrinsic viscosity ([η]) and hydrodynamic radius (R_h) values. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2010     

Surface-initiated, ring-opening metathesis polymerization: formation of diblock copolymer brushes and solvent-dependent morphological changes

In this article, we report the formation of diblock copolymer brushes on a gold surface by surface-initiated, ring-opening metathesis polymerization (SI-ROMP) with the newly developed ruthenium catalyst [(H2IMes)(3-Br-py)2(Cl)2Ru=CHPh]. Taking advantage of the highly improved activity of the ruthenium catalyst and the rapid initiation step of ROMP, we successfully formed thin films of well-defined block copolymers with 5-norbornene-2-endo,3-endo-dimethanol and norbornene carboxylic acid methyl esters (44:56 endo/exo). The catalyst was found to be active enough to polymerize endo isomers of norbonene derivatives from the surface as well as to form diblock copolymer brushes. SI-ROMP of diblock copolymers from the surface was confirmed by ellipsometry, infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. After the formation, the polymer-grafted substrates were immersed in various solvents, and the selective swelling characteristics of polymer brushes were investigated by atomic force microscopy.     

The Vinyl Homopolymerization of Norbornene

A full literature and patent account (about 100 references) is given on work describing vinyl polymerization to form the homopolymer poly(norbornene). The interest in vinyl‐poly(norbornene) is driven by its dielectric and mechanical properties for the technical application as an interlevel dielectric in microelectronics applications. For comparison, the norbornene/olefin copolymerization is discussed also. The metal catalysts are introduced and important polymer product properties are emphasized. The six possible isomers for stereoregular poly(norbornene) are presented.     

A Ligand System for the Flexible Functionalization of Quantum Dots via Click Chemistry

We present a novel ligand, 5‐norbornene‐2‐nonanoic acid, which can be directly added during established quantum dot (QD) syntheses in organic solvents to generate “clickable” QDs at a few hundred nmol scale. This ligand has a carboxyl group at one terminus to bind to the surface of QDs and a norbornene group at the opposite end that enables straightforward phase transfer of QDs into aqueous solutions via efficient norbornene/tetrazine click chemistry. Our ligand system removes the traditional ligand‐exchange step and can produce water‐soluble QDs with a high quantum yield and a small hydrodynamic diameter of approximately 12 nm at an order of magnitude higher scale than previous methods. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by incubating azido‐functionalized CdSe/CdS QDs with 4T1 cancer cells that are metabolically labeled with a dibenzocyclooctyne‐bearing unnatural sugar. The QDs exhibit high targeting efficiency and minimal nonspecific binding.     

Synthesis of P-chiral phosphines via chiral metal template promoted asymmetric furan Diels-Alder reaction

The organoplatinum complex containing ortho-metalated (S)-(1-(dimethylamino)ethyl)-naphthalene as the chiral auxiliary has been used to promote the asymmetric [4+2] Diels-Alder reaction between phenyldivinylphosphine and 2-diphenylphosphinofuran. The reaction was complete in 6 days at room temperature, with the formation of four isomeric diphosphino-substituted oxanorbornene metal complexes in the ratio of 4:2:2:1. Only the exo-cycloaddition products were formed. The formation of stereogenic carbon centers within the oxanorbornene skeleton are highly stereoselective, with all four cycloadducts adopting the same absolute configurations. However, the stereocontrol at the external phosphorus stereogenic center is less efficient (S_p:R_p = 2:1 for the template cycloadducts). The chiral naphthylamine auxiliary could be removed chemoselectively by treatment with concentrated hydrochloric acid, and further ligand liberation of the dichloro complexes with aqueous cyanide gave the diphosphino-substituted oxanorbornene ligands. Hydrogenation of the double bonds in the cycloadduct stabilizes the phosphorus stereogenic center of the free diphosphine ligand which otherwise undergoes inversion of absolute configuration.     

Nickel N‐heterocyclic carbene complexes in the vinyl polymerization of norbornene

Vinyl polymerized norbornene has some useful properties such as good mechanical strength, optical transparency and heat resistance. Several transition metal complexes have been described in the literature as active catalysts for the vinyl polymerization of norbornene. We now report the use of three types of nickel(II) complexes with N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands in the catalytic vinyl polymerization of norbornene under a range of conditions. Specifically, two nickel complexes bearing a chelating bis(NHC) ligand, two nickel complexes bearing two chelating anionic N‐donor functionalized NHC ligands as well as one diiodidonickel(II) complex with two monodentate NHC ligands were tested. The solid‐state structure of bis(1,3‐dimethylimidazol‐2‐ylidene)diiodidonickel(II), as determined by X‐ray crystallography, is presented. The highest polymerization activity of 2.6 × 10⁷ g (mol cat)^?1 h^?1 was observed using the latter nickel complex as catalyst, activated by methylaluminoxane. The norbornene polymers thus obtained are of high molecular weight but with rather low polydispersity. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

2-(N-Alkylcarboxamide)-6-iminopyridyl palladium and nickel complexes: coordination chemistry and catalysis

The 2-(N-alkylcarboxamide)-6-iminopyridine ligands (L1-L7) can bind as either mono-anionic tridentate N^N^N ligands on reaction with PdCl(2)(CH(3)CN)(2), to form complexes LPdCl (C1-C7), or as neutral tridentate N^N^O ligands with NiCl(2)·6H(2)O, to produce complexes LNiCl(2) (C8-C14). All metal complexes were characterized by IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis, and in the case of the palladium complexes, by (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy. The crystal structures of C3, C4, C6, C10, and C12 were determined by X-ray crystallography, and revealed a distorted square geometry around the palladium centre, whereas for nickel, a distorted square-pyramidal geometry was adopted. The representative palladium complex (C3) was further reacted with AgBF(4) in acetonitrile affording the salt [L3Pd(CH(3)CN)][BF(4)] (C15) and the structure of this was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. By contrast, carrying out the reaction in dichloromethane rather than acetonitrile, in the presence of malononitrile (CNCH(2)CN), resulted in the formation of the bimetallic palladium complex [L3Pd(CNCH(2)CN)PdL3]·2[BF(4)] (C16). Upon activation with diethylaluminium chloride, all the nickel complexes showed high activity for ethylene dimerization. Furthermore, the palladium complexes exhibited good activities in the vinyl-polymerization of norbornene upon activation with MAO.     

Highly active ethylene polymerization and copolymerization with norbornene using bis(imino‐indolide) titanium dichloride–MAO system

A catalytic system of new titanium complexes with methylaluminoxane (MAO) was found to effectively polymerize ethylene for high molecular weight polyethylene as well as highly active copolymerization of ethylene and norbornene. The bis (imino‐indolide)titanium dichlorides (L₂TiCl₂, 1 – 5 ), were prepared by the reaction of N‐((3‐chloro‐1H‐indol‐2‐yl)methylene)benzenamines with TiCl₄, and characterized by elemental analysis, ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. The solid‐state structures of 1 and 4 were determined by X‐ray diffraction analysis to reveal the six‐coordinated distorted octahedral geometry around the titanium atom with a pair of chlorides and ligands in cis‐forms. Upon activation by MAO, the complexes showed high activity for homopolymerization of ethylene and copolymerization of ethylene and norbornene. A positive “comonomer effect” was observed for copolymerization of ethylene and norbornene. Both experimental observations and paired interaction orbital (PIO) calculations indicated that the titanium complexes with electron‐withdrawing groups in ligands performed higher catalytic activities than those possessing electron‐donating groups. Relying on different complexes and reaction conditions, the resultant polyethylenes had the molecular weights M_w in the range of 200–2800 kg/mol. The influences on both catalytic activity and polyethylene molecular weights have been carefully checked with the nature of complexes and reaction conditions. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 3415–3430, 2007     

Homo‐ and copolymerization of ethylene and norbornene with bis(β‐diketiminato) titanium complexes activated with methylaluminoxane

Homo‐ and copolymerization of ethylene and norbornene were investigated with bis(β‐diketiminato) titanium complexes [ArNC(CR₃)CHC(CR₃)NAr]₂TiCl₂ (R = F, Ar = 2,6‐diisopropylphenyl 2a; R = F, Ar = 2,6‐dimethylphenyl 2b ; R = H, Ar = 2,6‐diisopropylphenyl 2c ; R = H, Ar = 2,6‐dimethylphenyl 2d) in the presence of methylaluminoxane (MAO). The influence of steric and electric effects of complexes on catalytic activity was evaluated. With MAO as cocatalyst, complexes 2a–d are moderately active catalysts for ethylene polymerization producing high‐molecular weight polyethylenes bearing linear structures, but low active catalysts for norbornene polymerization. Moreover, 2a – d are also active ethylene–norbornene (E–N) copolymerization catalysts. The incorporation of norbornene in the E–N copolymer could be controlled by varying the charged norbornene. ¹³C NMR analyses showed the microstructures of the E–N copolymers were predominantly alternated and isolated norbornene units in copolymer, dyad, and triad sequences of norbornene were detected in the E–N copolymers with high incorporated content of norbornene. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 93–101, 2008     

Preparation of palladium complexes of 1,3-di(2-pyridyl)propane derivatives and their use in norbornene polymerization

A variety of neutral palladium(II) complexes [Pd(L–L)Cl₂] containing 1,3-di(2-pyridyl)propane (1), 1,3-bis(2-pyridyl)-2-pentylpropane (2), 1,3-bis(2-pyridyl)-2-phenylpropane (3a), 1,3-bis(2-pyridyl)-2-tolylpropane (4), and 1,3-bis(2-pyridyl)-2-ferrocenylpropane (5) as chelate ligands (L–L) have been synthesized. The crystal structures of 1,3-diphenyl-2,4-di-pyridin-2-yl-butan-1-ol (3b), 5, [(2)PdCl₂], [(4)PdCl₂], and [(5)PdCl₂] have been determined and show a square planar geometry at palladium(II). The neutral complexes were tested in the polymerization of norbornene and copolymerization of norbornene with norbornene derivatives. The complex bearing the pentyl group exhibited high reactivity to give up to 5.9×10⁵ in molecular weight for the homopolymerization. When [(4)PdCl₂] or [(5)PdCl₂] was used as a catalyst, homopolymers insoluble at 150 °C in trichlorobenzene were obtained. However, copolymerization of norbornene with norbornene derivatives 8a–d catalyzed by [(4)PdCl₂] gave soluble copolymers with molecular weights up to 5.1×10⁵.