Preparation of Boron-Nitrogen-Containing Conjugate Polymers via Controlled Hydroboration of Imines

Abstract

Hydroboration is considered as one of the most widely used reactions for reduction of various unsaturated fragments/functional groups such as carbonyls, imines, and alkynes. However, this transformation is rarely used for the preparation of boron-containing materials as the boron fragment, which is used in reductions, is normally sacrificed during the isolation step(s). In this work, we examine the use of hydroboration of imines, which contain an acetylene moiety, to prepare several conjugated polymers that contain a boron-nitrogen fragment along the main polymer chain. The polymeric materials were characterized via several analytical techniques.