AN ALUMINUM SILOXIDE COMPLEX FOR STEREOSELECTIVE POLYMERIZATION OF RACEMIC LACTIDE
Author
Zhang, Yu
Pang, Xuan
Ma, Lili
Tang, Zhaohui
Abstract
Stereoselective polymerization of lactide is receiving growing attention in polymer science. Herein, a five-coordinate aluminum siloxide complex, [2,2-dimethyl- 1,3-propylenebis(3,5-di-tert- butylsalicylideneiminato)] (triphenyl-silanolato) aluminium (III) (1), was prepared from AlEt3, N,N´-(2,2-dimethylpropylene) bis(3,5-di-tert-butylsalicylideneimine) and triphenyl-silanol. X-ray analysis demonstrated that 1 contained a five-coordinate aluminum atom with distorted trigonal bipyramidal geometry in the solid state. 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectra indicated that the two conformational stereoisomers of 1 tautomerizes rapidly in chloroform or toluene solution at room temperature. 1 showed high stereoselectivity (Pm = 0.84) for the ROP of rac-lactide in toluene at 100°C, and polymerized rac-lactide to crystalline polymer (Tm = 178°C). This is the first report of stereoselective polymerization of rac-lactide using aluminum siloxide as a catalyst.