Influence of the Norbornene Anchor Group in Ru-Mediated Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization: Synthesis of Bottlebrush Polymers

Abstract

Ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) mediated by Grubbs’ third-generation catalyst [G3, (H2IMes)(Cl)2(pyr)2RuCHPh] is widely used to make bottlebrush polymers by polymerization of a macromonomer (MM), typically a low molecular weight polymer functionalized with a norbornene. Termed the grafting-through method, this strategy requires a high degree of living character (“livingness”) to form well-defined bottlebrush polymers. Here, we studied how various anchor groups, the series of atoms connecting the polymerizable norbornene unit to the polymer side-chain, affect livingness in ROMP in a series of exo-norbornene polystyrene MMs. First, we calculated the HOMO and HOMO/LUMO gap energies of MM structures containing five different anchor groups using density functional theory methods, finding that these energies spanned a range of 10 kcal/mol. We then performed kinetics experiments on each MM with target backbone degrees of polymerization (Nbb) of 100 to measure the propagation rate constant (kp,obs) under identical conditions. A positive correlation between the HOMO energy and measured kp,obs values emerged, revealing a 7-fold variation in kp,obs values across the five MMs, suggesting different degrees of livingness among the anchor groups. A series of studies targeting Nbb values ranging from 100 to 2000 further highlighted these differences: The MMs with high kp,obs values reached higher conversions at high target Nbb values with lower dispersities (D̵) than the MMs with lower kp,obs values. Finally, we evaluated the synthesis of bottlebrush pentablock copolymers using the MMs at the two extremes by injecting an MM aliquot into a catalyst solution five consecutive times, allowing for polymerization of each block before the next injection. MM conversion at each step was higher, and the D̵ values for each block were lower for the MM with the highest kp anchor group compared to the lowest kp anchor group. Taken together, these studies highlight how the anchor group dramatically affects both kp and livingness in ROMP, which is crucial for the synthesis of precise bottlebrush (co)polymers.