Making Insoluble Polymer Networks Malleable via Olefin Metathesis

作者：Yi-Xuan Lü, François Tournilhac, Ludwik Leibler, Zhibin Guan · 发表于：Journal of the American Chemical Society · 年份：2012 · DOI：10.1021/ja303356z · 被引用次数：568 · 研究领域：Synthetic Organic Chemistry Methods、Polymer composites and self-healing、Fuel Cells and Related Materials

Covalently cross-linked polymers have many technological applications for their excellent properties, but they suffer from the lack of processability and adaptive properties. We report a simple, efficient method of generating adaptive cross-linked polymers via olefin metathesis. By introducing a very low level of the Grubbs' second-generation Ru metathesis catalyst, a chemically cross-linked polybutadiene network becomes malleable at room temperature while retaining its insolubility. The stress relaxation capability increases with increasing level of catalyst loading. In sharp contrast, catalyst-free control samples with identical network topology and cross-linking density do not show any adaptive properties. This chemistry should offer a possibility to combine the dimensional stability and solvent resistance of cross-linked polymers and the processability/adaptibility of thermoplastics.