Dehydrogenative Coupling of Poly(phenylsilane) by Metallocene Catalysis

The use of two different types of metallocene catalysts in the dehydrogenative coupling of phenylsilane to produce poly(phenylsilane) was investigated. The metallocene catalysts were first synthesized (i) through the reaction of zirconcene dichloride with n-butyllithium in toluene and (ii) through the reaction of zirconocene dichloride with sec-butyllithium in toluene. After the catalyst synthesis, phenylsilane was added in situ commencing polymerization of the phenylsilane to poly(phenylsilane) through dehydrogenative coupling in each case. The resulting poly(phenylsilanes) were characterized by ¹H NMR, GPC, FTIR, and UV/Vis, and were shown to be successful photoinitiators for a variety of acrylate and methacrylate type monomers.