New Routes to Organodecaborane Polymers via Ruthenium-Catalyzed Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization

The compounds 6-(norbornenyl)decaborane
and 6-(cyclooctenyl)decaborane were synthesized in >95%
yields by the titanium-catalyzed reaction of norbornadiene and cyclooctadiene with decaborane. Ring-opening
metathesis polymerization of these monomers employing
either first- or second-generation Grubbs catalysts produced the corresponding poly(6-(norbornenyl)decaborane) and poly(6-(cyclooctenyl)decaborane) polymers with
Mn >30 kDa and polydispersities between 1.1 and 1.8.