Regiodivergent Chain‐Growth Polymerization of Aza‐π‐Allylpalladium Zwitterions via Proton Transfer
Proton transfer is a fundamental process in many ring-opening polymerization (ROP) strategies, imparting precise control over polymer chain growth under mild conditions. Merging proton transfer mechanism with versatile reactive intermediates-such as organometallic species-presents exciting opportunities to unlock new chemical space for polymer synthesis. Here, we report a mild palladium-catalyzed ROP of N-sulfonyl vinyl aziridines via a π-allyl-Pd<sup>II</sup>-N<sup>-</sup> zwitterionic intermediate. This polymerization features unique initiation and propagation proceeding through 1) proton transfer from a diversity of protic X─H/C─H bonds, and 2) subsequent ligand-controlled regiodivergent allylic amination reaction. This approach enables the synthesis of a range of nitrogen-containing homo- and copolymers, surpassing traditional base-promoted polymerization methods by expanding the amine spacing and enhancing functional group tolerance.
Authors
- Shaoqiu Zheng
- Dian‐Feng Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1821-9783)
- Bo Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0612-5712)
- Yangyang Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5791-9443)
- Feng Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2280-0178)
- Juanjuan Han
- Xuhui Liang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8163-1973)
Institutions
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Anhui Agricultural University (CN)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Hefei National Center for Physical Sciences at Nanoscale (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2025-12-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202522529
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Polymer Synthesis and Characterization
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
- University of Science and Technology of China
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities