Alternating radical copolymerization of α-styrylboronic acid pinacol ester with electron-deficient olefins†

Here, α-styrylboronic acid pinacol ester (StBpin) has been found to undergo alternating radical copolymerization with electron-deficient olefin comonomers, including n-butyl acrylate, N,N-dimethylacrylamide, acrylonitrile, and N-ethylmaleimide. Compared with styrene, which also copolymerizes with these electron-deficient olefins in an alternating manner, StBpin resulted in the formation of copolymers with higher alternating selectivity, but lower yields and low molecular weights due to its diminished reactivity.