Homo‐ and Copolymerization of Norbornene with Allyl Palladium and Nickel Complexes Bearing Imidazo[1,5‐a]pyridine Sulfonate Ligands

Norbornene Copolymerization with Polar Monomers Catalyzed by Palladium Catalysts Containing Imidazolidin-2-imine/Guanidine Ligands

The development of a palladium catalyst that has enhanced catalytic performance, such as low aluminum cocatalyst loading, good copolymerization ability, high molecular weight, and excellent solubility of the (co)polymers, is still a challenge in norbornene copolymerizations. Here, a series of PdCl2 and PdMeCl complexes containing differently substituted anilines and imidazolidin-2-imine/guanidine ligands was successfully synthesized and characterized. X-ray diffraction analysis results revealed that these Pd complexes adopted an almost square-planar geometry, and the six-membered chelate ring showed structural distinctions as compared to traditional N^N-based α-diimine and β-diimine Pd complexes. These Pd complexes were activated by EtAlCl2 and then exhibited moderate activity (104-105 g mol-1 h-1) and good thermal stability (up to 90 °C) for norbornene polymerization to produce high-molecular-weight PNBs (Mn up to 96.4 kg mol-1) with narrow polydispersities (PDI as low as 1.39). These Pd complexes also exhibited good polar group tolerance in the copolymerization of norbornene with methyl 5-norbornene-2-carboxylate and methyl 10-undecenoate, in which the activity was achieved up to 7.04 × 104 g mol-1 h-1. It furnished polar functionalized norbornene-based copolymers with high molecular weight (Mn up to 63.1 kg mol-1), narrow PDI, reasonable polar monomer incorporation, and good solubility. These Pd catalysts exhibited an enhanced copolymerization ability to produce PNB or NB-based copolymers, representing significant progress in this field.

Catalytic performance of tridentate versus bidentate Co(ii) complexes supported by Schiff base ligands in vinyl addition polymerization of norbornene

A series of Co(ii) complexes supported by Schiff base ligands, L_A-L_C, where L_A, L_B, and L_C are (E)-3-methoxy-N-(quinolin-2-ylmethylene)propan-1-amine, (E)-N ¹,N ¹-dimethyl-N ²-(pyridin-2-ylmethylene)ethane-1,2-diamine, and (E)-N ¹,N ¹-dimethyl-N ²-(thiophen-2-ylmethylene)ethane-1,2-diamine, respectively, were designed and synthesized. Structural studies revealed a distorted trigonal bipyramidal geometry for [L_BCoCl₂] and a distorted tetrahedral geometry for [L_CCoCl₂]. After activation with modified methyl aluminoxane (MMAO), all the Co(ii) complexes catalyzed the polymerization of norbornene (NB) to yield vinyl-type polynorbornenes (PNBs) with activities of up to 4.69 × 10⁴ g_PNB mol Co^-1 h^-1 at 25 °C. High-molecular-weight (M _n of up to 1.71 × 10⁵ g mol^-1) soluble PNBs with moderate molecular-weight distributions (MWD) were obtained. The activity of the Co(ii)/MMAO catalytic system is influenced by the steric hindrance and electronic properties of the ligands.