Preparation of new microgel polymers and their application as supports in organic synthesis

A series of soluble microgel polymers have been synthesized using solution-phase polymerization reactions. In a systematic manner, several variables such as monomer concentration, cross-linker content, reaction solvent and reaction time were examined, and this provided an optimal polymer with both solubility and precipitation characteristics suitable for synthetic applications. Thus, a chemically functionalized microgel polymer was synthesized, and the utility of this polymer in the synthesis of a small array of oxazole compounds has been demonstrated. The advantage of the microgel polymers produced was that they exhibited solution viscosities lower than those of conventional linear polymers even at higher concentrations, and this was found to be beneficial for their precipitation properties. Compounds prepared using the described microgel polymer supports were obtained in similar yields and purity when compared with insoluble resins, and more importantly, the soluble polymer bound intermediates could be analyzed at each step using standard NMR techniques.