Bin, Hao-Ze, Zi-Yuan, Zi-Di, Han-Li, Fan’s work on copper-catalyzed formal dehydration polymerization of propargylic alcohols has been published on JACS.
This work involves in situ efficient generation of [n]cumulenes (n = 3, 5) by a soft deprotonation/β-elimination pathway and their subsequent polymerization via organocopper species. Alkyne polymers were produced with high efficiency and onepot synthesis of semiconducting head-to-head poly(phenylacetylene) was demonstrated through a polymerization−isomerization sequence.