Abstract

We report a highly efficient Suzuki–Miyaura catalyst-transfer polycondensation (SCTP) of various arene monomers including 3-hexylthiophene, 3,4-propylenedioxythiophene (ProDOT), 3-alkylthiophene (3AT), benzotriazole (BTz), and quinoxaline (QX) using bench-stable but highly active Buchwald dialkylbiarylphospine Pd G3 precatalysts and N-methylimidodiacetic (MIDA)-boronate monomers. Theses more stable boronates increased the life-time of the monomers by slowing down protodeborylation, and at the same time, the polymerization rates were increased by highly active Buchwald Pd precatalysts. This catalyst system can promote controlled polymerizations regardless of electronic natures of the arene from strong donor to strong acceptor-type monomers which was possible before. We can further expand the monomer scope beyond homopolymerization to include controlled polymerization of donor-acceptor A,B-alternating conjugated copolymers. Lastly, block copolymers with several combinations will be also presented here. Several applications of this living polymerization system will be also discussed.

References

1. Seo, K.; Choi, T-L.* and others J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140 4335.
2. Lee, J.; Choi, T-L.* and others J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 11180.
3. Hwnag, S; Choi, T-L.* and others J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 1778.
4. Kim, H.; Lee, J.; Kim, T.; Cho, M. Choi, T-L.* Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, e202205828.
5. Lee, J.; Ryu, H.; Park, S.; Cho, M.; Choi, T-L.* J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 15488.

Biography

Tae-Lim Choi was born in Seoul, 1977. He obtained BS from KAIST in 1999, and PhD from Caltech under supervision of Bob Grubbs, in 2003. Then he moved to UC Berkeley as a post-doc researcher under guidance of Jean Frèchet until 2004. He came back to S. Korea and worked at Cheil Industries, Samsung, for four years. Since 2008, he started his independent career as assistant professor at Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University. He was promoted to full professor in 2017. In 2022, he moved to Department of Materials at ETH, Zürich as a Professor of Polymer Chemistry. His research interest is heavily on synthesis, focusing on developing new methods (living, cascade or diversity-oriented polymerizations etc.) to synthesize various macromolecules including new conjugated polymers and understanding their mechanisms. Recently, his focus has moved to applying these synthetic tools towards self-assembly of conjugated polymers to prepare various semiconducting nanostructures.

Tae-Lim Choi received following awards: Herbert Newby McCoy Award (2004, Best Thesis Award in Department of Chemistry at Caltech), Chungam Young Investigator Fellowship (2010, POSCO Foundation)  Outstanding Research Achievement Award, Ministry of Edu., Sci. & Tech., Republic of Korea, Presidential Young Scientist Award, President of the Republic of Korea (2014), Distinguished Lectureship Award, Chemical Society of Japan (2013), Young Organic Chemists Award from the KCS Organic Chemistry Division (2015).  Asian Rising Star Lectureship Award, The 18^th Asian Chemical Congress (2019), Polymer Chemistry Award, Polymer Chemistry Division, Korean Chemical Society (2021) Hanseong Science Award (2023), Arthur K. Doolittle Award, American Chemical Society, PMSE division. He is a member of Young Korean Academy of Science and Technology. Between 2013 and 2022, he served as an editor of Journal of Polymer Science and currently on the editorial advisory boards of Angew. Chemie. (Wiley-VCH).