Bidentate selenium-based chalcogen bond catalyzed cationic polymerization of <i>p</i>-methoxystyrene

Abstract

The application of selenium-based non-covalent bond catalysis in living cationic polymerization has rarely been reported. In this work, the cationic polymerization of <i>p</i>-methoxystyrene (<i>p</i>MOS) was performed using a bidentate selenium bond catalyst - a new water-tolerant Lewis acid catalyst. A polymer with controllable molecular weight and narrow molecular weight distribution can be obtained at room temperature, with a maximum molecular weight of 23.3 kDa. This selenium bond compound can also catalyze the controllable cationic polymerization of <i>p</i>-methoxy styrene under environmental conditions. By changing the monomer feeding ratio, a secondary feeding experiment and DFT analysis, it is shown that the selenium bond catalyst can induce polymer chain growth by reversibly activating dormant covalent bonds (C-OH).