Borylated Polystyrenes as Versatile Functional Materials

The use of inorganic and organometallic compounds as building blocks of functional polymeric materials has developed into a flourishing research direction. Boron-containing polymers in particular are attracting tremendous attention for applications ranging from precursors to high-performance ceramics, flame retardants, electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries, supramolecular materials, optical and electronic materials, sensors and bioimaging agents, and polymer-supported reagents and catalysts. New synthetic approaches have been introduced in recent years that allow for controlled functionalization of polymeric materials with structurally diverse organoborane moieties, utilizing either polymer modification procedures or the direct polymerization of borane monomers. In this chapter we summarize our efforts toward the discovery of new functional materials derived from organoborane hybrid polymers, focusing on polystyrene-based systems.