Analogous isotactic control

Analogously, isotactic propagation requires that steric control be assigned to the chirality of M, but does not impose the condition that the last unit of the chain be achual. It will be readily appa-eciated that such a requirement would render isotactic propagation a contradiction in terms. 

The hypothesis of stereochemical control linked to catalyst chirality was recently confirmed by Ewen (410) who used a soluble chiral catalyst of known configuration. Ethylenebis(l-indenyl)titanium dichloride exists in two diaste-reoisomeric forms with (meso, 103) and C2 (104) symmetry, both active as catalysts in the presence of methylalumoxanes and trimethylaluminum. Polymerization was carried out with a mixture of the two isomers in a 44/56 ratio. The polymer consists of two fractions, their formation being ascribed to the two catalysts a pentane-soluble fraction, which is atactic and derives from the meso catalyst, and an insoluble crystalline fraction, obtained from the racemic catalyst, which is isotactic and contains a defect distribution analogous to that observed in conventional polypropylenes obtained with heterogeneous catalysts. The failure of the meso catalyst in controlling the polymer stereochemistry was attributed to its mirror symmetry in its turn, the racemic compound is able to exert an asymmetric induction on the growing chains due to its intrinsic chirality. 

An analysis of the ionic factors for the polymerization of dienes to cis and trans structures is possible in the same way as for isotactic mono-enes. The mechanism which controls the steric structure of poly 1,4 dienes is parallel to that we have already seen for the mono-olefins. Roha (2) listed the catalysts which polymerize dienes according to the polymer structures produced. It was shown that the highly anionic as well as the highly cationic catalyst systems with increasing ionic separation produced trans-poly-1,4-dienes. This is analogous to the production of syndiotactic polyolefins. 

The first chiral bridged zirconocene synthesized in 1984 by Brintzinger and used as an isospecific polymerization catalyst was racemic ethylenebis-(4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-l-indenyl)zirconium dichloride (see Structure 9) [45]. Ewen showed that the analogous ethylenebis(l-indenyl)titanium dichloride (a mixture of the meso form and the racemate) produces a mixture of isotactic and atactic polypropylene [46]. The chiral titanocene as well as the zirconocene were shown to work by enantiomorphic site control in the case of the titanocene, the achiral meso structure causes the formation of atactic polymer. 

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