Saira Nayab

Synthesis, structure and methyl methacrylate polymerization of cobalt(II), zinc(II) and cadmium(II) complexes with N,N′,N-bidentate versus N,N′,N-tridentate N,N′,N-bis((1H-pyrazol-1-yl)methyl)amines

Abstract Mononuclear Co(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) complexes derived from bidentate or tridentate N,N′,N-bis((1H-pyrazol-1-yl)methyl)amines (Ln = LA, LB), where LA is N,N-bis((1H-pyrazol-1-yl)methyl)-3-methoxypropan-1-amine and LB is 3-methoxy-N,N-bis((3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)methyl)propan-1-amine, have been synthesized and characterized. The geometry at Co(II) and Cd(II) for [LACoCl2], [LBCoCl2] and [LBCdBr2] with N,N′,N-tridentate ligands (Ln = LA, LB) can be described as a distorted trigonal bipyramid achieved by coordinative interaction of Npyrazole, two halides and the nitrogen of amine moiety. However, the molecular structure of four-coordinate [LAZnCl2] can be best described as tetrahedral, resulting in an eight-membered chelate ring. [LACoCl2] polymerized methyl methacrylate in the presence of modified methylaluminoxane at 60 °C and resulted in poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) with higher molecular weight and narrower polydispersity index compared to the other synthesized complexes. However, all the synthesized complexes yielded syndiospecific PMMA, characterized using 1H NMR spectroscopy, with ca. 0.70.

Polymerizations of methyl methacrylate and rac-lactide by zinc(II) precatalyst containing N-substituted 2-iminomethylpyridine and 2-iminomethylquinoline

Abstract The reaction of [ZnCl2] with N-cyclopentyl-1-(quinolin-2-yl)methanimine (LA), N-cyclohexyl-1-(quinolin-2-yl)methanimine (LB), N-cyclohexyl-1-(pyridin-2-yl)methanimine (LC), 2,6-diethyl-N-(pyridin-2-ylmethylene)aniline (LD), N-cyclopentyl-1-(pyridin-2-yl)methanimine (LE), and N-phenyl-(pyridin-2-yl)methanimine (LF) in ethanol produced the bidentate [(NN′)ZnCl2] complexes, [LAZnCl2], [LBZnCl2], [LCZnCl2], [LDZnCl2], [LEZnCl2] and [LFZnCl2], respectively. The molecular structures revealed that the zinc in [LnZnCl2] (Ln = LA − LD) showed a distorted tetrahedral geometry involving two nitrogens of N,N’-bidentate ligands and two chloride ligands. Most of these initiators were effective for polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and polymerization of rac-lactide (rac-LA). [LCZnCl2] (with N-cyclohexyl substituted at imine-pyridine moiety) exhibited the highest catalytic activity for MMA polymerization in the presence of modified methylaluminoxane (MMAO) with an activity of 3.33 × 104 g PMMA/mol·Zn·h at 60 °C, giving moderate syndiotactic poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) with high molecular weight (9.62 × 105 g/mol). The dimethyl derivatives [LnZnMe2] (Ln = LA − LF), generated in situ, polymerized rac-LA with moderate activity and yielded a polylactide (PLA) with good number-average molecular weights and narrower polydispersity indices (PDIs). [LAZnMe2] effectively initiates the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of rac-LA to attain heterotactic PLA (Pr = 0.91).

Zinc(II) complexes containing N′-aromatic group substituted N,N′,N-bis((1H-pyrazol-1-yl)methyl)amines: Synthesis, characterization, and polymerizations of methyl methacrylate and rac-lactide

Abstract A novel series of Zn(II) complexes [LnZnCl2] (Ln = LA − LF) based on N,N′,N-bis((1H-pyrazol-1-yl)methyl)amine bidentate ligands, N,N-bis((1H-pyrazol-1-yl)methyl)-3,5-dimethylaniline [LA], N,N-bis((1H-pyrazol-1-yl)methyl)-2,6-dimethylaniline [LB], N,N-bis((1H-pyrazol-1-yl)methyl)-2,6-diethylaniline [LC], N,N-bis((1H-pyrazol-1-yl)methyl)-2,6-diisopropylaniline [LD], N,N-bis((1H-pyrazol-1-yl)methyl)-4-bromoaniline [LE] and N,N-bis((1H-pyrazol-1-yl)methyl)benzhydrylamine [LF], has been synthesized and characterized. X-ray structures of these Zn(II) complexes showed a distorted tetrahedral geometry. No interaction exists between the Namine and the Zn(II) center in the [LnZnCl2] (Ln = LA − LF) complexes, resulting in formation of an eight-membered chelate ring. [LFZnCl2] exhibited the highest catalytic activity (3.95 × 104 g PMMA/mol·Zn·h) for the polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) in the presence of modified methylaluminoxane (MMAO) at 60 °C and yielded high molecular weight (Mw) (11.0 × 105 g/mol) of poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA). All the complexes resulted in syndiotactic enriched PMMA with high Tg (125–131 °C). The steric bulk of ligand architecture plays an influential role in controlling the catalytic activity and stereoregularity of the resultant PMMA. Further, alkyl derivatives [LnZnMe2] (Ln = LA − LF) of synthesized Zn(II) complexes, generated in situ, showed moderate to high activities toward ring opening polymerization (ROP) of rac-lactide (rac-LA) and yielded heterotactic polylactide (PLA) with Pr up to 0.95 at −50 °C. The activity and stereoselectivity toward ROP of rac-LA by these dimethyl Zn(II) complexes should be considered as a combined effect of steric hindrance and electronic density around the metal center.