Coupling of benzyl halides mediated through alkali metal supramolecular complexes. A novel route to poly(p-xylylene)

Coupling of benzyl bromide giving 1,2-diphenylethane was demonstrated to proceed at room temperature in THF solution mediated by the potassium/18-crown-6 supramolecular complex. Based on this model reaction a novel method for the low temperature synthesis of poly(p-xylylene) from α,α′-dibromo-p-xylene is proposed. Experimental evidence of the polymer structure was provided by solid-state ¹³C NMR and IR spectroscopy.