Cobalt catalysts for the alternating copolymerization of propylene oxide and carbon dioxide: combining high activity and selectivity

Synthetic pathways to (salcy)CoX (salcy = N,N'-bis(3,5-di-tert-butylsalicylidene)-1,2-diaminocyclohexane; X = halide or carboxylate) complexes are described. Complexes (R,R)-(salcy)CoCl, (R,R)-(salcy)CoBr, (R,R)-(salcy)CoOAc, and (R,R)-(salcy)CoOBzF(5) (OBzF(5) = pentafluorobenzoate) are highly active catalysts for the living, alternating copolymerization of propylene oxide (PO) and CO(2), yielding poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) with no detectable byproducts. The PPC generated using these catalyst systems is highly regioregular and has up to 99% carbonate linkages with a narrow molecular weight distribution (MWD). Inclusion of the cocatalysts PPN]Cl or PPN]OBzF(5)] (PPN] = bis(triphenylphosphine)iminium) with complex (R,R)-(salcy)CoCl, (R,R)-(salcy)CoBr, or (R,R)-(salcy)CoOBzF(5) results in remarkable activity enhancement of the copolymerization as well as improved stereoselectivity and regioselectivity with maximized reactivity at low CO(2) pressures. In the case of PPN]Cl with (R,R)-(salcy)CoOBzF(5), an unprecedented catalytic activity of 620 turnovers per hour is achieved for the copolymerization of rac-PO and CO(2), yielding iso-enriched PPC with 94% head-to-tail connectivity. The stereochemistry of the monomer and catalyst used in the copolymerization has dramatic effects on catalytic activity and the PPC microstructure. Using catalyst (R,R)-(salcy)CoBr with (S)-PO/CO(2) generates highly regioregular PPC, whereas using (R)-PO/CO(2) with the same catalyst gives an almost completely regiorandom copolymer. The rac-PO/CO(2) copolymerization with catalyst rac-(salcy)CoBr yields syndio-enriched PPC, an unreported PPC microstructure. In addition, (R,R)-(salcy)CoOBzF(5)/PPN]Cl copolymerizes (S)-PO and CO(2) with a turnover frequency of 1100 h(-1), an activity surpassing that observed in any previously reported system.