Syndiospecificity

A great variety of modifications to the steric properties, based on Ewen s work, has been carried out in order to control the stereoselectivity some representative examples are summarized in Table 9. Using modified Me2C(Cp)(Flu)MCl2 (M = Zr, Hf), high syndiospecificity has been achieved 134-136, as reported by Fina Hoechst and Mitsui Toatsu Chemicals, inc. 

In contrast to the case of Cp2ZrX2/MAO giving atactic poly(alkene)s, Cp MCl2/MAO, M = Zr (139) and Hf (140), are the catalyst precursors of the syndiotactic polymerization of 1-butene and propylene [176]. Triad distribution indicated that this is chain-end controlled syndiospecific polymerization. The syndiospecificity is attributed to the increase of steric encumbrance around the metal center. Thus, Cp HfX2 is the most effective syndiospecific catalyst component in this system. 

Table 9. Syndiospecific polymerization catalyzed by metallocene catalysts...

The latter mechanism is supported by evidence obtained from the initiation and termination steps in the syndiospecific polymerization of styrene [190]. The 13C-enriched titanium catalyst afforded polystyrene with a CH(Ph)CH213CH3 end group, which indicates that the initiation step proceeded by secondary insertion (2,1-insertion) of styrene into the Ti-13C bond of the active species (Eq. 10). In contrast to this mechanism, termination by the addition of 13C-enriched methanol or tert-butyl alcohol afforded polymers without 13CH30 or tertbutoxy end groups. 

The highly syndiospecific-living polymerization of methyl methacrylate has been initiated by the neutral bis(pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)lanthanide-alkyl or -hydride complexes [215,216]. The plausible reaction mechanism is shown in Scheme XI. 

With MAO activation, Zr- and Hf-FI catalysts 1 and 3 exhibit fairly high reactivity toward propylene and produce propylene oligomers [64, 65], Conversely, the corresponding Ti-FI catalyst/MAO 2 forms semicrystalline PP (1 °C polymerization), which displays a peak melting temperature of 97 °C, indicative of the formation of a stereoregular polymer. To our surprise, microstructural analysis by 13C NMR indicates that the resultant polymer is syndiotactic (rr 19%), and that a chain-end control mechanism is responsible for the observed stereocontrol, regardless of the C2 symmetric catalyst ([28] for the first report on syndiospecific propylene... 

We and others have revealed that syndiospecific propylene polymerization is exclusively initiated by 1,2-insertion followed by 2,1-insertion as the principal mode of polymerization [64]. This is the first example of a predominant 2,1-insertion mechanism for chain propagation exhibited by a group 4 metal-based catalyst. The unusual preference for 2,1-regiochemistry displayed by the Ti-FI catalysts compared with the Zr- and Hf-FI catalysts is apparently inconsistent with the crys-tallographically characterized structures, which indicate that the Ti is shielded more by the phenoxy-imine ligands and thus possesses higher steric compression. The reason for the unusual preference in the regiochemistry of Ti-FI catalysts is unclear at the present time. 

As stated above, we postulated that fast, reversible chain transfer between two different catalysts would be an excellent way to make block copolymers catalytically. While CCTP is well established, the use of main-group metals to exchange polymer chains between two different catalysts has much less precedent. Chien and coworkers reported propylene polymerizations with a dual catalyst system comprising either of two isospecific metallocenes 5 and 6 with an aspecific metallocene 7 [20], They reported that the combinations gave polypropylene (PP) alloys composed of isotactic polypropylene (iPP), atactic polypropylene (aPP), and a small fraction (7-10%) claimed by 13C NMR to have a stereoblock structure. Chien later reported a product made from mixtures of isospecific and syndiospecific polypropylene precatalysts 5 and 8 [21] (detailed analysis using WAXS, NMR, SEC/FT-IR, and AFM were said to be done and details to be published in Makromolecular Chemistry... 

The authors conducted a similar investigation of precatalysts 7 and 11 using TiBA and trityl tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)borate as the cocatalyst. They concluded that this material contained no fraction that could be characterized as blocky. It was therefore proposed that reversible chain transfer occurred only with MAO or TMA and not with TiBA. This stands in contrast to the work of Chien et al. [20] and Przybyla and Fink [22] (vida supra), who claim reversible chain transfer with TiBA in similar catalyst systems. Lieber and Brintzinger also investigated a mixture of isospecific 11 and syndiospecific 12 in attempts to prepare iPP/sPP block copolymers. Extraction of such similar polymers was acknowledged to be difficult and even preparative temperature rising elution fractionation (TREF) [26, 27] was only partially successful. 

Section 4 will deal with catalytic systems whose stereospecificity is controlled principally by the chirality of the closest tertiary carbon atom of the growing chain (chain-end stereocontrol). In Section 4.1 possible mechanisms for chain-end controlled isospecific and syndiospecific propene polymerizations will be reviewed. In Section 4.2 informations relative to the mechanism of chain-end controlled syndiospecific polymerization of styrene and substituted styrenes will be reviewed. In Section 4.3 chain-end controlled mechanisms for the isospecific and syndiospecific cis-1,4 and 1,2 polymerizations of dienes will be presented. 

Figure 1.8 Approximated transition states for primary propene insertion for model complexes with (a) isopropyl-bis(l-indenyl) ligand (isospecific) for the (R, R) coordination and (b) iso-propyl(cyclopentadienyl-9-fluorenyl) ligand (syndiospecific) for the R chirality at metal atom. Corresponding preinsertion intermediates, labeled a in Figures 1.7a,b, are sketched in Figures 1.4 and 1.6a, respectively.

It is worth noting that the lower syndiospecificity of catalytic systems based on 31, with respect to those based on 30,9 is accounted for by these calculations. This is easily rationalized in the framework of the enantioselective mechanism which imposes to the growing chain (both in the preinsertion intermediate and in the approximated transition state) a chiral orientation toward... 

Figure 1.10 Preinsertion intermediates for secondary propene insertion into primary polypropylene chain for (a) isospecific model complex based on (R, R)-coordinatedisopropyl-bis(l-indenyl) ligand and (b) syndiospecific model complex based on isopropyl(cyclopentadienyl-9-fluorenyl) ligand for R chirality at metal atom. Stereoselectivity of isospecific model site is in favor of opposite monomer prochiral faces for primary and secondary insertions (cf. Figures 1.4 and 1.10a). Stereoselectivity of syndiospecific model site is in favor of same monomer prochiral face for primary and secondary insertions (cf. Figures 1.6a and 1.1 Ob).

Syndiospecific catalytic systems based on metallocenes are highly regioreg-ular. As a consequence, their stereoselectivity in possible regioirregular insertions has been experimentally investigated for propene copolymers only.78,79 However, an analysis of the stereoselectivity of possible secondary propene insertions on syndiospecific catalytic models based on -symmetric metallocenes is reported here, also due to its relevance to the rationalization of the dependence of regiospecificity on the type of stereospecificity (see Section 3.1.4.1).80... 

In summary, there is a substantial stereoselectivity of this syndiospecific Cs-symmetric catalytic model for the lower energy (and experimentally observed) primary monomer insertion as well as for the higher energy (experimentally undetected) secondary monomer insertion. It is worth noting that the... 

The preferred primary and secondary insertions of opposite monomer prochiral faces into isospecific C2-symmetric catalysts, and of a same prochiral face into syndiospecific Cs-symmetric catalysts, have been confirmed by recent characterization studies on propene-ethene-styrene terpolymers.79... 

Schematic plots of the internal energy versus the reaction coordinate for both primary and secondary insertions and for generic aspecific, syndiospecific, and isospecific model complexes are sketched in Figures 1.11 a,b, and c, respectively. The minima at the centers and at the ends of the energy curves correspond to alkene-free intermediates, including a growing chain with n and n + 1 monomeric units, respectively. Movements from the central minima toward the left and the right correspond to possible reaction pathways leading to primary and secondary insertions, respectively. For the enantioselective complexes the reaction pathways for monomer enantiofaces being...

For the sake of simplicity, the minimum-energy pathways (which according to our calculations on coordination and preinsertion intermediates are expected to be similar) are assumed identical, independent of the symmetry (stereospecificity) of the catalyst. However, the plots for the syndiospecific (Figure 1.1 lb) and isospecific (Figure 1.11c) models are different since, as previously discussed, the stereoselectivities for the primary and secondary insertions are in favor of the same or opposite monomer enantiofaces, respectively. 

Since the 1960s the syndiospecific chain-end controlled polymerization of propene in the presence of homogeneous vanadium-based catalytic systems has been known. For these systems, it has been well established by the work of Zambelli and co-workers that the polymerization is poorly regioselective and the stereoselective (and possibly syndiospecific) step is propene insertion into the metal secondary carbon bond with formation of a new secondary metal-carbon bond.133134... 

Chain-end controlled isospecificity and syndiospecificity for 1-alkene polymerizations at low temperatures with achiral metallocenes have also been reported.2,163 81131135 The polymerization with these catalysts is highly regio-specific in favor of primary monomer insertion. 

A syndiospecific chain-end controlled propene polymerization by Brookhart-type136 Ni(II) catalysts at low temperatures, also occurring through a primary... 

Recently, bis(imino)pyridyl Fe(II)-based catalysts have been reported to afford isospecific chain-end controlled propene polymerization occurring through secondary monomer insertion.138 139 Even more recently, catalytic systems based on the octahedral bis(salicylaldiminato)Ti complex have been reported to afford syndiospecific chain-end controlled propene polymerization,140 which possibly occurs through secondary monomer insertion.141... 

All the proposed models for syndiotactic propagation suppose that the active center is a vanadium-carbon bond and that the monomer first coordinates to the metal. Moreover, all of them attribute the stereospecificity to steric factors. However, different driving forces for the syndiospecificity have been proposed. 

A completely different model of the origin of the syndiospecificity which involves the formation of a lluxional chiral site has also been proposed.147 According to this mechanism, the chirality of the growing chain determines the chirality of the fluxional site, which in turn discriminates between the two monomer enantiofaces. In particular, the assumed model site consists of a hexacoordinated metal (V) atom surrounded by four chlorine atoms assumed to be bridge bonded to other metal (i.e., Al) atoms147 149 (Figures 22a,b). 

Figure 1.23 Transition states for secondary insertion of styrene into secondary growing chain presenting si chirality (that is, generated secondary insertion of. si-coordinated styrene), (a) Model for unlike (syndiospecific) propagation includes fluxional site of R chirality at metal atom, which imposes re-propene coordination, while (b) model for like (isospecific) propagation includes fluxional sites of S chirality at metal, which imposes. si-propene coordination. Syndiospecific transition state (a) is favored because smallest substituent on C atom of chain, the H atom, can be pointed toward Cp ligand, whereas isospecific transition state (b) is of higher energy because Cp of growing chain is oriented toward Cp ring.

Nonbonded energy interactions are able to rationalize not only the stereospecificities observed for different metallocene-based catalytic systems (isospecific, syndiospecific, hemi-isospecific, and with oscillating stereocontrol) but also the origin of particular stereodefects and their dependence on monomer concentration as well as stereostructures associated with regioirregular insertions. Nonbonded energy analysis also allowed to rationalize the dependence of regiospecificity on the type of stereospecificity of metallocene-based catalysts. 

The mechanisms for chain-end stereoselectivity (isospecific and syndiospecific) for primary monomer insertion (Section 4.1.1) present relevant analogies with the well-established mechanism of chiral site controlled stereoselectivity (Section 3). In fact, for both mechanisms, the selection between the two... 

The mechanisms of stereoselectivity which have been proposed for chain-end stereocontrolled polymerizations involving secondary monomer insertion also present a general pattern of similarity. In fact, molecular modeling studies suggest that for olefin polymerizations (both syndiospecific and isospecific, Section 4.1.2) as well as for styrene polymerization (syndiospecific, Section 4.2), the chirality of the growing chain would determine the chirality of a fluxional site, which in turn would discriminates between the two monomer enantiofaces. 

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