Exploitation of new
polymerization with selectivity is of significance
to the preparation of functional polymers and the study of their structure–property
relationship. In this work, we successfully developed an efficient
Ru(II)-catalyzed azide–alkyne click polymerization (RuAACP),
of which the regioselectivity can be switched by the ligands on the
Ru(II) catalysts. With RuH2(CO)(PPh3)3 as catalyst, 1,4-regioregular polytriazoles (PTAs) with high weight-average
molecular weights (M
w up to 15300) and
high 1,4-regioregularities (the fraction of 1,4-isomer, F
1,4 up to 100%) were produced in satisfactory yields (up
to 97.6%). In contrast, Cp*Ru(PPh3)2Cl-catalyzed
AACP facilely yielded (up to 98.3%) 1,5-regioregular PTAs with high M
w (up to 15520) and F
1,5 (up to 100%). All the obtained PTAs exhibit good solubility and
high thermal stability. The glass transition temperature (T
g) of 1,4-regioregular PTA is much higher than
that of its 1,5-regioregular counterpart, revealing the considerable
effect of the regiostructure on their T
g. Both 1,4- and 1,5-regioregular PTAs containing tetraphenylethene
moieties in their backbones show aggregation-induced emission features.
In addition, the impact of regiostructure on the light refractivity
of the PTAs was also investigated, and 1,4-regioregular PTA possesses
higher refractivity indices than 1,5-regioregular PTA.