1,2,5‐Azadiborolane as a Building Block for Inorganic–Organic Hybrid Polymers

Abstract

AbstractThe incorporation of BN units in organic scaffolds by isoelectronic/isosteric substitution of selected CC couples has emerged as an efficient tool to produce new materials with useful properties and functions. The knowledge about BN‐doped inorganic–organic hybrid polymers, however, is still rather scarce. This is especially true for linear or cyclolinear macromolecules that feature longer inorganic chains. Herein, we introduce 1,2,5‐azadiborolane as a polymer building block for the first time. An attempt to apply it for the synthesis of a cyclolinear poly(iminoborane) resulted after only two B−N coupling events in the formation of a molecular compound comprising a chain of three nitrogen and two boron atoms – as confirmed by single‐crystal X‐ray diffractometry. In combination with a p‐phenylene diamine‐based co‐monomer, we accomplished to incorporate the 1,2,5‐azadiborolane into a hybrid polymer of considerable molecular weight that features a B2N3 chain. We additionally synthesized a small molecular model compound for the polymer and characterized it crystallographically as well. Comparison of the UV‐vis spectra of the monomer, the oligomer, and the polymer revealed systematic red‐shifts of the longest‐wavelength absorption band with increasing number of BN units in the chain.