SuFEx Click: New Materials from SOx F and Silyl Ethers

Jeremy Yatvin; Karson Brooks; Jason Locklin

doi:10.1002/chem.201602926

SuFEx Click: New Materials from SO_x F and Silyl Ethers

Chemistry. 2016 Nov 7;22(46):16348-16354. doi: 10.1002/chem.201602926. Epub 2016 Aug 25.

Authors

Jeremy Yatvin¹, Karson Brooks¹, Jason Locklin²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, College of Engineering, and the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering University of Georgia, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, 30602, USA.
² Department of Chemistry, College of Engineering, and the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering University of Georgia, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, 30602, USA. jlocklin@uga.edu.

PMID: 27557871
DOI: 10.1002/chem.201602926

Abstract

New forms of click chemistry present new opportunities in materials science. Sulfur(VI) fluoride exchange (SuFEx) is a recently discovered click reaction between molecules containing SO_x F groups and silyl ethers, two functionalities that are orthogonal to all other known click chemistries, that generates sulfate or sulfonate connections upon the addition of certain organobases or fluoride sources. SuFEx also has several important advantages over other click reactions in that it is insensitive to ambient oxygen and water, and its precursor materials, especially SO_x F, are chemically, UV, and thermally inert. This Concept article focuses on the unique reactivity of SuFEx and its relation to building high molecular weight polymers and surface coatings, both of which make it a powerful new tool for materials science.

Keywords: click chemistry; materials science; polymerization; surface chemistry; thin films.