A new class of organometallic polymer having a backbone of conjugated Poly-
yne and Zr-metal atoms has been prepared. Trichloroethylene (TCE) and Hexac
hlorobutadiene (HCB) are quantitatively converted by n-butyllithium to dili
thioacetylene (LiC=CLi) and dilithiodiacetylene (Li-C=C-C=C-Li) respectivel
y. Quenching with Cp-2*ZrCl2 affords high yields of the polymers [Zr(Cp-2*)
C=C](n) and [Zr(Cp-2*)C=C-C=C](n) where Cp* = C-5(CH3)(5) = pentamethyl cyc
lopentadienyl. The Cp-2*ZrCl2 and the polymers were characterized by viscos
ity, molecular weight, elemental analysis, FTIR, NMR spectra, and TGA. (C)
1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.