Theoretical Studies on the Stereoselectivity of Polymerization

Recently, theoretical calculations were done on the olefin polymerization. In particular, an ab-initio molecular orbital calculation was used to optimize the geometry for the ground, transition and product states of model systems, based on gas-phase reactions  

The transition state was shown to have a four-centered nonplanar structure and the product showed a strong jS-agostic interaction.59 Molecular-mechanics (MM) calculations based on the structure of the transition state indicated that the regioselectivity is in good agreement with the steric energy of the transition state rather than the stability of the 7r-complex. The MM study also indicated that the substituents on the Cp rings determine the conformation of the polymer chain end, and the fixed polymer chain end conformation in turn determines the stereochemistry of olefin insertion at the transition state.59 

The course of stereospecific olefin polymerization was studied by using the molecular mechanics programs, MM-2 and Biograph, based on the optimized geometries of the ethylene complex and the transition state [13,203]. Interestingly, the steric interaction at the transition state mainly controls the stereochemistry in polymerization, which proceeds specifically isotactic or syndiotactic depending on the kind of catalyst. 

Recently, a metallocene/MAO system has been used for the polymerization of non-conjugated dienes [204, 205]. The cyclopolymerization of 1,5-hexadiene has been catalyzed by Zieger-Natta catalyst systems, but with low activity and incomplete cyclization in the formation 5-membered rings [206]. The cyclopolymerization of 1,5-hexadiene in the presence of ZrMe2Cp2/MAO afforded a polymer (Mw = 2.7 x 107, Mw/Mn = 2.2) whose NMR indicated that almost complete cyclization had taken place. One of the olefin units of 1,5-hexadiene is initially inserted into an M-C bond and then cyclization proceeds by further 

When a chiral ansa-type zirconocene/MAO system was used as the catalyst precursor for polymerization of 1,5-hexadiene, an main-chain optically active polymer (68% trans rings) was obtained84-86. The enantioselectivity for this cyclopolymerization can be explained by the fact that the same prochiral face of the olefins was selected by the chiral zirconium center (Eq. 12) [209-211]. Asymmetric hydrogenation, as well as C-C bond formation catalyzed by chiral ansa-metallocene 144, has recently been developed to achieve high enantioselectivity88-90. This parallels to the high stereoselectivity in the polymerization. 

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