OXIDATIVE ADDITION AS A ROUTE TO ORGANOMETALLIC POLYMERS

The ease of oxidative addition of alkyl halides to [PtMe2(2,2'-bipyridine)] and related compounds has been exploited to give a new route to organometallic polymers. A C-X bond (X = Cl, Br) is incorporated into a vinyl monomer, and the organometallic polymer may then be prepared by oxidative addition of the monomer to platinum(II) followed by free-radical polymerization or, with a lower platinum incorporation, by polymerization of the monomer followed by oxidative addition to platinum (II). The platinum-containing polymers from [PtMe2(bpy)] are insoluble, but those from [PtMe2(4,4'-di-tert-butyl-2, 2'-bipyridine)] are soluble in organic solvents.