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Abstract

The research presented in this thesis highlights the synthesis and applications of aminopolyolefins (APOs). Early transition metal-catalyzed atom-economic, sustainable, and catalytic methodology called hydroaminoalkylation has been used to synthesize the aminoolefins which otherwise would require multi-step pathways. Aminoolefins with different ring strains i.e. aminonorbornenes and aminocyclooctenes are reported in high yields. The monomers were polymerized by commercially available Grubbs catalysts to obtain corresponding aminopolyolefins. The presence of secondary amine in the polymer resulted in dynamic hydrogen bond interactions in the polymer matrix which influenced their viscoelastic properties. Poly(aminonorbornenes) with sec. amines showed solid-like behaviour over the entire frequency range in contrast to the unfunctionalized polymers which showed liquid-like properties at low frequencies. H-bonding crosslinking of the polymer chains affected the chain relaxation and subsequent viscoelastic properties. Low Tg and H-bonding ability in the poly(aminocyclooctenes) resulted in inherent room temperature self-healing materials in absence of external stimuli. H-bonding of the polymer resulted in adhesion to Teflon®. The synthesized aminopolyolefins are used as binders in an environment-friendly and safer energy storage system, aqueous Zn-ion batteries. Modification of the hydrophilicity of the APOs was required to improve their cycling performance in coin cells. The APO binders were advantageous to improve the performance of high mass loading cells which present a significant challenge to the relatively new battery technology. Hydrophilic and self-healing APOs also delivered discharge capacity similar to the state-of-the-art binder material used in this battery. A careful balance between hydrophilicity and self-healing ability was essential for the extended performance of the batteries. The APOs have been explored as corrosion protection materials for pipeline protection. The hydrophilic APOs are effectively used as corrosion inhibitors for inner P110 pipeline steel. Higher solubility of the hydrophilic APOs in the aqueous component was useful for efficient internal pipeline corrosion protection. Corrosion inhibition better than the required industrial standard was observed. On the other hand, hydrophobic APO-coatings were beneficial for external pipeline protection due to their barrier properties. The self-healing property of poly(aminocyclooctenes) was exploited to synthesize commercially desired self-healing corrosion-resistant coatings. These APO-coatings showed “excellent” corrosion protection as per the industrial requirements.