Reductive Coupling of Carbodiimide by Samarium (II) Diiodide and its Application to Synthesis of Networked Polymers

Abstract

In this paper, we report the synthesis of networked polymers based on reductive coupling of carbodiimide by samarium(II) diiodide (SmI₂). First, reductive coupling of 1,3-di-p-tolylcarbodiimide (DTC) by SmI₂ was investigated as a model reaction. As a result, we found that DTC was reductively coupled by SmI₂ to give the corresponding oxalic amidine derivative. On the basis of the result, we synthesized carbodiimide-containg polymers by radical homopolymerization of N-(p-vinylphenyl)-N’-phenylcarbodiimide (VPPC) and its copolymerization with styrene and performed the network formation of the obtained polymers by reductive coupling of carbodiimide moieties in the side chain by SmI₂. The obtained networked polymers were found to have oxalic amidine structures in the linkage moiety by IR analysis.