The synthesis and cationic polymerization of multifunctional silicon‐containing epoxy monomers and oligomers

Several series of multifunctional silicon‐containing epoxide monomers and oligomers have been prepared using rhodium catalyzed hydrosilation reactions. Dialkyl and diarylsilanes can be condensed with vinyl epoxides to give high yields of the desired diepoxides while the hydrosilation of alkyl and aryl silanes yields a mixture of di and tri epoxy substituted products. The condensation of αω,SiH difunctional compounds with vinyl epoxides can be carried out regioselectively to give α‐hydrogen‐ω‐epoxy intermediates, which can be further reacted with di and tri olefins bearing terminal double bonds to give a series of well characterized epoxy functional oligomers. An investigation of the photoinitiated cationic polymerization of the monomers and oligomers, which were prepared during the course of these studies, was carried out.