Increasing Molecular Weight of a Helical Polymer through Polymerization in a Chiral Solvent

Significance

Employing limonene as a chiral, nonracemic solvent has a marked effect upon the molecular weight of the product obtained by Wurtz polymerization of dichloromethylphenyl­silane. The high-molecular-weight fraction of the MW distribution increased when the reaction was carried out in enantioenriched, rather than racemic, limonene. Circular dichroism and UV-Vis spectroscopy indicated that polymethylphenylsilane, which adopts a helical conformation, exhibits a helix-sense excess when dissolved in enantio­enriched limonene.