RUTHENIUM-CATALYZED REGIOSELECTIVE COPOLYMERIZATION OF ACETOPHENONE AND ALPHA,OMEGA-DIENES - ADDITION OF AROMATIC ORTHO C-H BONDS ACROSS C-C DOUBLE-BONDS OF ALPHA,OMEGA-DIENES

This paper reports a novel ruthenium catalyzed regioselective copolymerization reaction between acetophenone and alpha, omega-dienes such as divinyltetramethyldisiloxane and divinyldimethylsilane which leads respectively to copoly(3,3,5,5-tetra-methyl-4-oxa-3,5-disila-1,7-heptanylene/2-acetyl-1,3-phenylene) and copoly(3,3-dimethyl-3-sila-1,5-pentanylene/2-acetyl-1,3-phenylene). This reaction involves the ruthenium catalyzed insertion of the carbon-carbon double bonds of alpha,omega-dienes into the aromatic C-H bonds ortho to the acetyl group of acetophenone. Similar ruthenium catalyzed reactions between acetophenone and alkenes to yield monomeric ortho alkyl substituted acetophenones have been recently reported.1