Chain-growth polymerization enabling formation/introduction of arylene groups into polymer main chains

Abstract

Owing to the many advantages over step-growth polymerizations, chain-growth polymerization has been utilized in a variety of controlled polymer synthesis, including many important industrial processes. Chain-growth polymerization is generally used for alkenes and alkynes to form ‘aliphatic main chains’, such as alkylene and alkenylene units. In contrast, this method has rarely been applied to the construction of ‘aromatic main chains’ such as arylene units because of the poor variety of the corresponding aromatic monomers in polymer synthesis. Considering the increasing importance of arylene-containing polymers in academic and industrial societies, the development of controlled methods for the formation/introduction of arylene groups by chain-growth polymerization remains a challenging subject in polymer chemistry. In this review, the progress of chain-growth polymerization accompanied by formation/introduction of arylene groups into polymer main chains is reviewed. Polymers that contain arylene groups in their main chain are of significant importance because of their applications to semiconducting materials or engineering plastics. Therefore, controlled methods for the synthesis of arylene-containing polymers based on chain-growth polymerization have been intensively developed in polymer chemistry. This review focuses on the advances in chain-growth polymerization accompanied by formation/introduction of arylene groups into polymer main chains.