Inorganic Chemistry Commons^™

L-Lactide And Ε-Caprolactone Ring Opening Polymerization By Binary Catalysts Systems That Include Bis-Ligated Magnesium Complexes, Reile M. Slattery, Arnold L. Rheingold, Joseph M. Fritsch

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

A series of bis-ligated magnesium complexes supported by tridentate ketoiminates containing electron-donating and electron-withdrawing groups were prepared. The complexes were characterized with ¹H, ¹³C, and ¹⁹F NMR, absorbance spectroscopy, and x-ray crystallography. The complexes were assessed for their ring opening polymerization activity with L-lactide (L-lac) and ϵ-caprolactone (eCL) in binary catalyst systems with 4-fluorophenol at 100 °C. The magnesium complexes supported by ketoiminates bearing electron-donating groups yielded greater percentage conversions from monomers to polymers than those containing electron-withdrawing groups for both L-lac and eCL. The magnesium complexes were more efficient at polymerizing L-lac than eCL, and …