Copolymerization and terpolymerization of carbon dioxide/propylene oxide/phthalic anhydride using a (salen)Co(III) complex tethering four quaternary ammonium salts.

The (salen)Co(III) complex 1 tethering four quaternary ammonium salts, which is a highly active catalyst in CO2/epoxide copolymerizations, shows high activity for propylene oxide/phthalic anhydride (PO/PA) copolymerizations and PO/CO2/PA terpolymerizations. In the PO/PA copolymerizations, full conversion of PA was achieved within 5 h, and strictly alternating copolymers of poly(1,2-propylene phthalate)s were afforded without any formation of ether linkages. In the PO/CO2/PA terpolymerizations, full conversion of PA was also achieved within 4 h. The resulting polymers were gradient poly(1,2-propylene carbonate-co-phthalate)s because of the drift in the PA concentration during the terpolymerization. Both polymerizations showed immortal polymerization character; therefore, the molecular weights were determined by the activity (g/mol-1) and the number of chain-growing sites per 1 [anions in 1 (5) + water (present as impurity) + ethanol (deliberately fed)], and the molecular weight distributions were narrow (M w/M n, 1.05-1.5). Because of the extremely high activity of 1, high-molecular-weight polymers were generated (M n up to 170,000 and 350,000 for the PO/PA copolymerization and PO/CO2/PA terpolymerization, respectively). The terpolymers bearing a substantial number of PA units (f PA, 0.23) showed a higher glass-transition temperature (48 °C) than the CO2/PO alternating copolymer (40 °C).

CO2/ethylene oxide copolymerization and ligand variation for a highly active salen-cobalt(III) complex tethering 4 quaternary ammonium salts.

A cobalt(III) complex (1) of a salcy-type ligand tethering 4 quaternary ammonium salts, which is thought to act as a highly active catalyst for CO2/propylene oxide (PO) copolymerization, also shows high activity (TOF, 25,900 h(-1); TON, 518,000; 2.72 kg polymer per g cat) and selectivity (>98%) for CO2/ethylene oxide (EO) copolymerization that results in high-molecular-weight polymers (M(n), 200,000-300,000) that have strictly alternating repeating units. The related cobalt(III) complexes 11-14 were prepared through variations of the ligand framework of 1 by replacing the trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane unit with 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-propanediamine, trans-1,2-diaminocyclopentane, or 1,1'-binaphthyl-2,2'-diamine or by replacing the aldimine bond with ketimine. These ligand frameworks are thought to favour the formation of the cis-ß configuration in complexation, and the formation of the cis-ß configuration in 11-14 was confirmed through NMR studies or X-ray crystallographic studies of model complexes not bearing the quaternary ammonium salts. Complexes 11, 13, and 14, which adopt the cis-ß configuration even in DMSO did not show any activity for CO2/PO copolymerization. Complex 12, which was constructed with trans-1,2-diaminocyclopentane and fluctuated in DMSO between the coordination and de-coordination of the acetate ligand as observed for 1, showed fairly high activity (TOF, 12,400 h(-1)). This fluctuating behaviour may play a role in polymerization. However, complex 12 did not compete with 1 in terms of activity, selectivity, and the catalyst cost.

Unusual coordination mode of tetradentate Schiff base cobalt(III) complexes.

Contrary to the stereotype, Jacobsen's catalyst, chiral (salcy)Co(III)OAc adopts an unusual binding mode. The tetradentate {ONNO} ligand does not form a square plane but wraps cobalt in a cis-ß fashion while acetate is chelating.