THE DESIGN OF ETHERIC AND THIOETHERIC BUILDING-BLOCKS FOR POLYMER SYNTHESIS

A new approach to the design of monomeric and oligomeric ether and thi oethers is presented in this article. Nucleophilic aromatic substituti on (SNAr) of cyclopentadienyliron complexes of chloroarenes with a num ber of aliphatic and aromatic dihydroxy or disulfide nucleophiles, led to the formation of the diiron complexes (2a-g) in very good yields. Some of these sulfur complexes were further oxidized to produce the su lfone complexes (4a-c). Functionalization of the diiron complexes with terminal chloro groups (2a, 2c and 4a) was also achieved using S,Ar r eactions. The cyclopentadienyliron moieties were removed easily by pho tolytic demetallation to give the free monomeric and oligomeric ether, thioether and sulfone compounds in yields ranging from 70 to 93%.