CHAPTER 20: Chain-Growth Catalyst-Transfer Polycondensations

Chain-growth catalyst-transfer polycondensation (CTP) is a new and rapidly developing polymerization method for reproducible synthesis of well-defined conjugated polymers with controllable molecular weight, polydispersity and end-groups. Ni-catalyzed Kumada CTP and Pd-catalyzed chain-growth Suzuki CTP, were already applied in the synthesis of a number of well-defined electron-rich homopolymers, such as polythiophenes, polyfluorenes, polyphenylenes and polypyrroles. Controlled preparation of many all-conjugated block polymers comprising electron-rich blocks was also reported. Furthermore, CTPs were recently employed in the synthesis of several electron-deficient conjugated polymers and donor–acceptor alternating copolymers. This chapter overviews the most important methods for controlled preparation of conjugated polymers and provides the most typical synthetic protocols.