Oil-Soluble Silver-Organic Molecule for in Situ Deposition of Lubricious Metallic Silver at High Temperatures.

A major challenge in lubrication technology is to enhance lubricant performance at extreme temperatures that exceed conventional engine oil thermal degradation limits. Soft noble metals such as silver have low reactivity and shear strength, which make them ideal solid lubricants for wear protection and friction reduction between contacting surfaces at high temperatures. However, achieving adequate dispersion in engine lubricants and metallic silver deposition over predetermined temperatures ranges presents a significant chemical challenge. Here we report the synthesis, characterization, and tribological implementation of the trimeric silver pyrazolate complex, [Ag(3,5-dimethyl-4-n-hexyl-pyrazolate)]3 (1). This complex is oil-soluble and undergoes clean thermolysis at ∼310 °C to deposit lubricious, protective metallic silver particles on metal/metal oxide surfaces. Temperature-controlled tribometer tests show that greater than 1 wt % loading of 1 reduces wear by 60% in PAO4, a poly-α-olefin lubricant base fluid, and by 70% in a commercial fully formulated 15W40 motor oil (FF oil). This silver-organic complex also imparts sufficient friction reduction so that the tribological transition from oil as the primary lubricant through its thermal degradation, to 1 as the primary lubricant, is experimentally undetectable.

Synthesis and characterization of silver(I) pyrazolylmethylpyridine complexes and their implementation as metallic silver thin film precursors.

A series of light- and air-stable silver(I) pyrazolylmethylpyridine complexes [Ag(L(R))]n(BF4)n (L = pyrazolylmethylpyridine; R = H, 1; R = Me, 2; R = i-Pr, 3) and [Ag(L(R))(NO3)]2 (L = pyrazolylmethylpyridine; R = H, 4; R = Me, 5; R = i-Pr, 6) has been synthesized and structurally and spectroscopically characterized. In all of the molecular structures, the pyrazolylmethylpyridine ligands bridge two metal centers, thus giving rise to dinuclear (2, 4, 5, and 6) or polynuclear structures (1 and 3). The role played by the counteranions is also of relevance, because dimeric structures are invariably obtained with NO3(-) (4, 5, and 6), whereas the less-coordinating BF4(-) counteranion affords polymeric structures (1 and 3). Also, through atoms-in-molecules (AIM) analysis of the electron density, an argentophilic Ag···Ag interaction is found in complexes 2 and 4. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) shows that the thermolytic properties of the present complexes can be significantly modified by altering the ligand structure and counteranion. These complexes were further investigated as thin silver film precursors by spin-coating solutions, followed by annealing at 310 °C on 52100 steel substrates. The resulting polycrystalline cubic-phase Ag films of ∼55 nm thickness exhibit low levels of extraneous element contamination by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicate that film growth proceeds primarily via an island growth (Volmer-Weber) mechanism. Complex 4 was also evaluated as a lubricant additive in ball-on-disk tribological tests. The results of the friction evaluation and wear measurements indicate a significant reduction in wear (∼ 88%) at optimized Ag complex concentrations with little change in friction. The enhanced wear performance is attributed to facile shearing of Ag metal in the contact region, resulting from thermolysis of the silver complexes, and is confirmed by energy-dispersive X-ray analysis of the resulting wear scars.

Diverse stereocontrol effects induced by weakly coordinating anions. Stereospecific olefin polymerization pathways at archetypal C(s)- and C(1)-symmetric metallocenium catalysts using mono- and polynuclear halo-perfluoroarylmetalates as cocatalysts.

Counteranion effects on propylene polymerization rates and stereoselectivities are compared using Cs-symmetric Me2C(Cp)(Flu)ZrMe2 (1; Cp = C5H4,eta5-cyclopentadienyl; Flu = C13H8, eta5-fluorenyl) and C1-symmetric Me2Si(OHF)(CpR*)ZrMe2 (2; OHF = C13H16, eta5-octahydrofluorenyl; CpR* = eta5-3-(-)-menthylcyclopentadienyl) precatalysts activated with the mononuclear and polynuclear perfluoroarylborate, -aluminate, and -gallate cocatalysts/activators B(C6F5)3 (3), B(o-C6F5C6F4)3 (4), Al(C6F5)3 (5), Ph3C+B(C6F5)4- (6) Ph3C+FAl(o-C6F5C6F4)3- (7), Ga(C6F5)3 (8), and recently reported mono- and polymetallic trityl perfluoroarylhalometalates Ph3C+FB(C6F5)3- (9), Ph3C+FB(o-C6F5C6F4)3- (10), (Ph3C+)xFx[Al(C6F5)3]yx- (x = 1, y = 1, 11; x = 1, y = 2, 12; x = 2, y = 3, 13), Ph3C+(C6F5)3AlFAl(o-C6F5C6F4)3- (14), Ph3C+XAl(C6F5)3- (X = Cl, 15; X = Br, 16), and Ph3C+F[Ga(C6F5)3]2- (17). Temperature, propylene concentration, and solvent polarity dependence are surveyed in polymerizations catalyzed by 1 activated with cocatalysts 3-16 and with a 1:2 ratio of Ph3CCl and 5, and with a 1:2 ratio of Ph3CBr and 5, and by 2 activated with 3, 6, 7, 12, and 14. Remarkable stereocontrol with high activities is observed for 1 + 12 and 1 + 14. Polypropylene samples produced using C1-symmetric precatalyst 2 are subjected to microstructural analyses using stochastic models describing the relative contributions of enantiofacial misinsertion and backskip processes. A powerful technique is introduced for calculating interparametric correlation matrices for these nonlinear stochastic models. The collected results significantly extend what is known about ion-pairing effects in the case of Cs-symmetric precatalyst 1 and allow these findings to be applied to the case of C1-symmetric precatalyst 2 as an agent of isospecific propylene polymerization.