The tenth anniversary of Suzuki polycondensation (SPC)

This article de describes the successful transfer of the Suzuki cross-coupl ing (SCC) reaction to polymer synthesis, one of the developments within the last decade of polymer synthesis. The prepared by Suzuki polycondensation (SPC) and its Ni-catalyzed reductive counterpart are soluble and processabl e poly(arylene)s that, because of their rigid and con jugated backbones, ar e of interest for materials sciences. Achievable molar masses easily compet e with of traditional polyesters and polyamides. This article also provides insight into some synthetic problems associated with the trans fer of SCC from low molar mass developments within the last organic chemistry to high molar lines the increasing importance of mass polymer chemistry by addressi ng issues such as monomer purity, stoichiometric balance, achievable molar masses, and defects in the polymer structure. Although the emphasis of this article is synthetic and structural issues, some potential ap plications o f the polyarylenes obtained are briefly mentioned. Together with the enormo us developments in the areas of metallocene, ring-opening metathesis, and a cyclic diene metathesis polymerization, the success of SPC impressingly und er developments within the last organic chemistry to high molar lines the i ncreasing importance of transitionmetal-catalyzed CC-bond-forming reactions in polymer syn (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 39: 1533-1556, 2001