High-Speed Living Polymerization of Polar Vinyl Monomers by Self-Healing Silylium Catalysts

[EN] This contribution describes the development and demonstration of the ambient-temperature, high-speed living polymerization of polar vinyl monomers (M) with a low silylium catalyst loading (90%) to quantitative efficiencies and a high degree of control over M and MWD (1.07-1.12). An intriguing catalyst "self-repair" feature has also been demonstrated for the current living polymerization system
The work carried out at CSU was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF-0848845). We thank Boulder Scientific Co. for the research gifts of B(C6F5)3, [Ph3C]+[B(C6F5)4] , and [HN(Me2)Ph]+[B- (C6F5)4]