Thermally Stable and Processible Norbornene Copolymers

Processible norbornene copolymers were realized by judiciously designing norbomene comonomers, which were themselves prepared by the Diels-Alder reaction of cyclopentadiene and benzoquinone followed by the isomerization and alkylation of alcohols. The norbornene copolymers containing these derivatized comonomers, prepared by [Pd($x_{2}CH-{3} $)$_{4}$][$SbF_{6}$]$_{2}$ catalyst, exhibited excellent solubility in many organic solvents as well as good thermal stability, as evidenced by their high glass transition ($T_{g}$) and decomposition ($\∼$350$^{circ}C$) temperatures. In addition, fairly strong adhesion to substrates such as glasses and silicon wafers was also achieved with these copolymers to overcome the limitations experienced by polynorbornene homopolymers and to make them attractive for many important industrial applications.