(Benz)Imidazolin-2-iminato Aluminum, Zinc, and Magnesium Complexes and Their Applications in Ring Opening Polymerization of ϵ-Caprolactone

Heng Liu, Maxim Khononov, Natalia Fridman, Matthias Tamm, Moris S. Eisen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Synthesis and characterization of a new family of aluminum, magnesium, and zinc complexes supported by (benz)imidazolin-2-iminato ligands are reported herein. Under different reaction conditions, (benz)imidazolin-2-imine ligands reacted with metal alkyl precursors to afford the corresponding complexes, displaying mononuclear, binuclear, and trinuclear structures. Reaction in 1:1 stoichiometry at room temperature afforded the simple Lewis acid-base adducts, which exhibited distorted tetrahedral geometries around the metal centers, whereas high temperature reactions gave rise to dimeric complexes, with each metal bridging two (benz)imidazolin-2-imine ligands to form a four-membered metallacycle ring at the center of the complexes. The catalytic ring opening polymerization (ROP) of ϵ-caprolactone was studied using these complexes as precatalysts in the presence of isopropanol, and very high activities were observed, affording high/medium molecular weight poly(ϵ-caprolactone) products with low polydispersity indices. Detailed kinetic studies revealed that the polymerizations proceeded in a living manner and molecular weights of the polymers could be precisely controlled.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)13426-13439
Number of pages14
JournalInorganic Chemistry
Volume58
Issue number19
DOIs
StatePublished - 7 Oct 2019
Externally publishedYes

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