Iron-catalysed ring-opening metathesis polymerization of olefins and mechanistic studies

Satoshi Takebayashi*, Mark A. Iron, Moran Feller, Orestes Rivada-Wheelaghan, Gregory Leitus, Yael Diskin-Posner, Linda J.W. Shimon, Liat Avram, Raanan Carmieli, Sharon G. Wolf, Ilit Cohen-Ofri, Rajashekharayya A. Sanguramath, Roy Shenhar, Moris Eisen, David Milstein*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

The olefin metathesis reaction is among the most widely applicable catalytic reactions for carbon–carbon double bond formation. Currently, Mo– and Ru–carbene catalysts are the most common choices for this reaction. It has been suggested that an iron-based catalyst would be a desirable economical and biocompatible substitute of the Ru catalysts; however, practical solutions in this regard are still lacking. Here, we report the discovery and mechanistic studies of three-coordinate iron(II) catalysts for ring-opening metathesis polymerization of olefins. Remarkably, their reactivity enabled the formation of polynorbornene with stereoregularity and high molecular weight (>107 g mol–1). The polymerization in the presence of styrene revealed cross metathesis reactivity with iron catalysts. Mechanistic studies suggest the possible role of metal–ligand cooperation in formation of the productive catalyst. This work opens the door to the development of iron complexes that can be economical and biocompatible catalysts for olefin metathesis reactions. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)494-502
Number of pages9
JournalNature Catalysis
Volume5
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2022
Externally publishedYes

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