Accelerated ring-opening metathesis polymerization of a secondary amide of 1-cyclobutene by hydrogen-bonding interaction.

A hydrogen-bond-assisted model is proposed for ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of a secondary amide of 1-cyclobutene, resulting in the fastest reaction rate in a nonpolar solvent, toluene. This new model was supported by the investigation on how the solvent effect affected the NMR spectra, ROMP kinetic studies, and the copolymerization of monomers 1 and 2.