4,4,5,5-Tetra(3,5-dibromophenyl)-2,2-diphenyl-1,3-dioxa-2-silole and related compounds as precursors to flame retardant oligomers

Certain strained five-membered heterocycles undergo thermally-induced, carbon-carbon bond homolysis to generate diradicals capable of initiating vinyl polymerization. These compounds usually contain two oxygen atoms and a larger heteroatom (silicon, phosphorus, sulfur) in addition to carbon. If the heterocycle is suitably substituted with halogen (particularly bromine) containing moities it may function as a vehicle to permit incorporation of flame-retarding units into a polymer or oligomer. When an appropriate heterocycle is used as an initiator for radical polymerization each polymer chain formed contains at least one flame-retarding unit. One such heterocycle is 4,4,5,5-tetra(3,5-dibromophenyl)-2,2-diphenyl-1,3-dioxa-2-silole. In instances in which the heterocycle also acts as a monomer, i.e., it is reactive toward chain-propagating radicals, additional flame-retarding activity may be incorporated into the polymer.