U.S.-Japan Cooperative Research: Extension of the Bond-Forming Initiation Theory to Electrophilic p-Quinodimethane Polymerization

该奖项将支持美国亚利桑那大学化学系Henry K. Hall教授和日本名古屋Mie大学工学院岩崎寿二教授和伊藤孝仁教授在聚合物化学领域的合作研究项目。科学家们将研究富电子的供体烯烃与亲电的喹二甲烷的反应。Hall教授先前对富电子烯烃与贫电子受体烯烃反应的研究，导致了他的键形成引发理论的发展，该理论提出，四亚甲基中间体，无论是离子还是自由基，都是这些系统中经常发生的自发聚合的引发剂。这个理论已经成功地解释了在烯烃-烯烃体系中得到的结果，这个项目的研究人员希望研究它在烯烃与喹二甲烷反应中的推广。在合成新单体和聚合物以及研究聚合的基本机理方面有丰富的经验。伊藤博士合成了多种新型喹诺二甲烷，并研究了它们的聚合反应。他最近花了一年的时间在亚利桑那州霍尔博士的实验室进行这项研究。美国和日本科学家将合作合成特别适合这些研究的单体，试图捕获反应中间体，并对反应进行详细的动力学研究。本文研究的一些聚合物在非线性光学材料和压电材料等高科技领域具有潜在的应用前景。

This award will support a cooperative research project in polymer chemistry between Professor Henry K. Hall, Jr., Department of Chemistry, University of Arizona, and Professors Shouji Iwatsuki and Takahito Itoh, Faculty of Engineering, Mie University, Nagoya, Japan. The scientists will study reactions of electron-rich, donor olefins with electrophilic quinodimethanes. Previous studies by Professor Hall on reactions of electron-rich olefins with electron-poor, acceptor olefins led to development of his Bond-Forming Initiation Theory, which proposes that tetramethylene intermediates, either ionic or free-radical, are the initiators of the spontaneous polymerizations that frequently occur in these systems. This theory has been successful in explaining results obtained in the olefin-olefin systems, and the investigators in this project wish to examine its extension to reactions of olefins with quinodimethanes Dr. Hall, an organic polymer chemist, has considerable experience in synthesizing new monomers and polymers and in investigating the basic mechanisms of polymerization. Dr. Itoh has synthesized a variety of novel quinodimethanes and has studied their polymerization reactions. He recently spent a year in Dr. Hall's laboratory in Arizona pursuing this research. The U.S. and Japanese scientists will cooperate in synthesizing monomers especially suited for these studies, in attempting to trap reaction intermediates, and in carrying out detailed kinetic studies of the reactions. Some of the polymers to be investigated here have potential applications in such high-technology areas as non-linear optical materials and piezoelectric materials.