From polymer to monomer: cleavage and rearrangement of Si-O-Si bonds after oxidation yielded an ordered cyclic crystallized structure.

Polymerization reactions are very common in the chemical industry, however, the reaction in which monomers are obtained from polymers is rarely invesitgated. This work reveals for the first time that oxone can break the Si-O-Si bond and induce further rearrangement to yield an ordered cyclic structure. The oxidation of P1, which is obtained by reaction of 2,2'-1,2-ethanediylbis(oxy)bis(ethanethiol) (DBOET) with 1,3-divinyl-1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisiloxane (MM(Vi)), with oxone yielded cyclic crystallized sulfone-siloxane dimer (P1-ox) after unexpected cleavage and rearrangement of the Si-O-Si bond.