Carbosilane dendrimers and their use in polymerisation

The synthesis and chemistry of several carbosilane dendrimers were investigated. These dendrimers were analysed using a variety of techniques. Both a convergent and a divergent methodology were used to build up the carbosilane dendrimers. The carbosilane dendrimers were derived using mainly hydrosilylation reactions. These reactions appeared to be particularly useful as they appeared to go to completion. It was necessary to use quantitative reactions to prevent unreacted functionalities on the dendrimers. The simple allyl-terminated dendrimers were functionalised with a variety of silanes. These silanes were then used to further functionalise the dendrimers. A number of derivatives of chloromethylsilyl terminated dendrimers were investigated. The generation of lithiated dendrimers, based on the above mentioned dendrimers, was achieved. A number of zirconocene complexes was prepared in order to link these to the dendrimers through a sigma-bond and a number of model compounds was prepared. Reaction of Schwartzs reagent with the zeroth, first and second generation dendrimer was performed. These compounds were used in polymerisation reactions.