Application of carbon arc-generated Mo- and W-based catalyst systems to the ROMP of norbornene

This study focuses on the application of the carbon arc-generated molybdenum-and tungsten-based catalyst systems, MoCl5-C and WCl6-C, to effect ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene (norbornene). The results are compared with those previously obtained by the electrochemically generated MoCl5-(e) over bar -Al-CH2Cl2 and WCl6-(e) over bar -Al-CH2Cl2 systems. The polymer products are characterized using H-1 and C-13 NMR, gel permeation chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry and thermo gravimetric analysis. According to NMR spectra analyses, the molybdenum-based catalyst system produced polynorbornene with ca 48% cis structure whereas tungsten system produced ca 56% cis structure polynorbornene and in both cases the polynorbornene had a blocky distribution. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.