Phosphido‐diphosphine pincer group 3 complexes as efficient initiators for lactide polymerization |
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| Authors: | Mina Mazzeo Marina Lamberti Ilaria D'Auria Stefano Milione Jonas C. Peters Claudio Pellecchia |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemistry, University of Salerno. I‐84084 Via Ponte don Melillo, Fisciano, Salerno, Italy;2. Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 |
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| Abstract: | New Group 3 metal complexes of the type [LM(CH2SiMe3)2(THF)n] supported by tridentate phosphido‐diphosphine ligands [(o‐C6H4PR2) 2 PH; L1‐H : R = iPr; L2‐H : R = Ph] have been synthesized by reaction of L1‐H and L2‐H with [M(CH2SiMe3)3(THF)2)] (M = Y and Sc). All the new complexes [(o‐C6H4PR2) 2 PM(CH2SiMe3)2(THF)n] [M = Y, R = iPr (1), R = Ph (2); M = Sc, R = iPr (3), R = Ph (4)] were studied as initiators for the ring opening polymerization of lactide. The yttrium complexes ( 1 and 2 ) exhibited high activity and good polymerization control, shown by the linear fits in the plot of number‐averaged molecular weight (Mn) versus the percentage conversion and versus the monomer/initiator ratio and by the low polydispersity index values. Interestingly, very good molar‐mass control was observed even when L ‐Lactide was polymerized in the absence of solvent at 130 °C. A good molar‐mass control but lower activities were observed in the polymerization reaction of lactide promoted by the analogous scandium complexes 3 and 4 . © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 1374–1382, 2010 |
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| Keywords: | catalysts polyesters pincer ring‐opening polymerization yttrium |
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