Bis(alkyl) rare-earth complexes supported by a new tridentate amidinate ligand with a pendant diphenylphosphine oxide group. Synthesis, structures and catalytic activity in isoprene polymerization.

A new tridentate amidine 2-[Ph2P(O)]C6H4NHC(tBu)[double bond, length as m-dash]N(2,6-Me2C6H3) (1) bearing a side chain pendant Ph2P[double bond, length as m-dash]O group was synthesized and proved to be a suitable ligand for coordination to rare-earths ions. Bis(alkyl) complexes {2-[Ph2P(O)]C6H4NC(tBu)N(2,6-Me2C6H3)}Ln(CH2SiMe3)2(THF)n (Ln = Y, n = 1 (3), Ln = Er, n = 1 (4), Ln = Lu, n = 0 (5)) were prepared using alkane elimination reactions of and Ln(CH2SiMe3)3(THF)2 (Ln = Y, Er, Lu) in hexane and were isolated in 50, 70 and 75% yields respectively. The X-ray studies revealed that complexes 2-5 feature intramolecular coordination of P[double bond, length as m-dash]O groups to metal ions. The lutetium complex 5 proved to be rather stable: at 20 °C its half-life time is 1155 h, while for the yttrium analogue the half-life time was found to be 63 h. Complexes 3-5 were evaluated as precatalysts for isoprene polymerization. The systems Ln/borate/AliBu3 (Ln = 3-5, borate = [PhNHMe2][B(C6F5)4], [Ph3C][B(C6F5)4]) turned out to be highly efficient in isoprene polymerization and enable complete conversion of 1000-10,000 equivalents of monomer into polymer at 20 °C within 0.5-2.5 h affording polyisoprenes with a very high content of 1,4-cis units (up to 96.6%) and from narrow (1.49) to moderate (3.54) polydispersities. A comparative study of catalytic performance of the related bis(alkyl) yttrium complexes supported by amidinate ligands of different denticities and structures [tBuC(N-2,6iPr2C6H4)2](-), [tBuC(N-2,6-iPr2C6H4)(N-2-MeOC6H4)](-) and {2-[Ph2P(O)]C6H4NC(tBu)N(2,6-Me2C6H3)}(-) demonstrated that the introduction of a pendant donor group (2-MeOC6H4 or Ph2P(O)) into a side chain of amidinate scaffolds results in a significant increase in catalytic activity. The amidinate ligand bearing a Ph2P(O)-group provides a high isoprene polymerization rate along with excellent control over regio- and stereoselectivities and allows us to obtain polyisoprenes with a reasonable molecular weight distribution.

Rare-earth dichloro and bis(alkyl) complexes supported by bulky amido-imino ligand. Synthesis, structure, reactivity and catalytic activity in isoprene polymerization.

A monoanionic amido-imino ligand system [(2,6-iPr2C6H3)N=C(Me)C(=CH2)N(C6H3-2,6-iPr2)](-) was successfully employed for the synthesis of monomeric dichloro [(2,6-iPr2C6H3)N=C(Me)C(=CH2)N(C6H3-2,6-iPr2)]LnCl2(THF)2 (Ln = Y, 2Y; Lu, 2Lu) and bis(alkyl) [(2,6-iPr2C6H3)N=C(Me)C(=CH2)N(C6H3-2,6-iPr2)]Ln(CH2SiMe3)2(THF) (Ln = Y, 4Y; Lu, 4Lu) species of yttrium and lutetium. Dichloro complexes 2Y and 2Lu turned out to be unstable in aromatic solvents. The ligand symmetrization reaction in the case of 2Y affords the yttrium complex coordinated by dianionic [(2,6-iPr2C6H3)NC(=CH2)C(=CH2)N(C6H3-2,6-iPr2)](2-) ligand, (2,6-iPr2C6H3)N=C(Me)C(Me)=N(C6H3-2,6-iPr2) and YCl3. On the contrary, bis(alkyl) species 4Y and 4Lu are rather stable and do not undergo such a transformation or thermal decomposition. The treatment of complex 4Y with DME resulted in C-O bond cleavage and the formation of a dimeric methoxy-alkyl species {[(2,6-iPr2C6H3)N=C(Me)C(=CH2)N(C6H3-2,6-iPr2)]Y(CH2SiMe3)(µ-OMe)}2 (5). The ternary systems 4Ln/AliBu3/borate (borate = [HNMe2Ph][B(C6F5)4] and [CPh3][B(C6F5)4]; molar ratio 1 : 10 : 1) performed high catalytic activity in isoprene polymerization and ability to convert into polymer 1000-5000 equivalents of isoprene in 20-120 min with quantitative conversion. The obtained polyisoprenes possessed high molecular weights (2.9 × 10(4)-4.1 × 10(4)) and moderate polydispersities (2.14-3.52). Predominant 3,4-regioselectivity (up to 78%) was observed.