Olefin Coordination to d Metal Centers

Having generated suitable (partially) cationic, Lewis acidic metal centers, several factors need to be considered to understand the progress of the alkene polymerisation reaction the coordination of the monomer, and the role (if any) of the counteranion on catalyst activity and, possibly, on the stereoselectivity of monomer enchainment. Since in d° metal systems there is no back-bonding, the formation of alkene complexes relies entirely on the rather weak donor properties of these ligands. In catalytic systems complexes of the type [L2M(R) (alkene)] cannot be detected and constitute structures more closely related to the transition state rather than intermediates or resting states. Information about metal-alkene interactions, bond distances and energetics comes from model studies and a combination of spectroscopic and kinetic techniques. 

A first indication of the likely geometry of zirconium(IV) alkene complexes was found in the crystallographically characterised alkyne insertion product 32 [72], 

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