Synthesis of silicon-functionalized polyolefins by subsequent cobalt-catalyzed dehydrogenative silylation and nickel-catalyzed copolymerization.

Metal catalyzed olefin hydrosilylation and metal mediated olefin polymerization are both of great academic and industrial importance. In this article, these two aspects are combined to prepare silicon-functionalized polyolefin materials. First, pyridine-diimine cobalt-catalyzed dehydrogenative silylations of various terminal olefins with alkylsilanes lead to the formation of a variety of allylsilanes at high yields. Then, the allylsilanes are copolymerized with ethylene using an α-diimine nickel catalyst, leading to the formation of branched polyolefins with high molecular weight and moderate comonomer incorporation. This subsequent catalytic process is an efficient strategy for the synthesis of silicon-functionalized polyolefins using widely available and inexpensive starting materials.