Two Undergraduate Experiments in Organic Polymers: The Preparation of Polyacetylene and Telechelic Polyacetylene via Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization

Abstract

The ruthenium-catalyzed ring-opening metathesis polymerization of 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene (COT) to produce polyacetylene and a telechelic polymer of polyacetylene is described in a series of two experiments for the undergraduate laboratory. In the first experiment, students plate-polymerize COT and dope the resulting polyacetylene with iodine to perform resistivity studies. In the second experiment, students mix COT with TBS-protected cis-2-butene diol as a chain transfer agent to produce a telechelic polyene, which is then studied via 1H NMR, IR, and UV–vis spectroscopy. Experimental details and the results of a test study of these experiments in an undergraduate laboratory class are discussed.