Synthesis of silazanylene-vinylene oligomers via catalytic polycondensation of divinyltetramethyldisilazane

Ruthenium (e.g., RuHCl(CO)(PPh3)(3) and [RuCl2(CO)(3)](2)) and rhodium comp lexes (e.g., [RhX(cod)](2), where X = Cl, OSiMe3) appear to be the first ef fective catalysts for polycondensation of divinyl-tetramethyldisilazane (I) (ADPOL) to give poly(silazanylene-vinylene)s. Ruthenium catalysts give oli gomers ((M) over bar(w) = 2380, (M) over bar(w)/(M) over bar(n) = 1.21) and a mixture of trans-tactic oligomers, respectively, while rhodium complexes lead to the formation of a mixture of cyclic and linear oligomers.