(Arylimido)vanadium(V)-Alkylidene Complexes as Catalysts for Ring-opening Metathesis Polymerization (ROMP) of Cyclic Olefins: Ligand Design for Exhibiting the High Activity

Abstract

(Imido)vanadium(V)-alkylidene complexes of type V(CHSiMe3)(NR)(OR′)(PMe3)2 [R = Ad, C6H5, 2,6-Me2C6H3, 2,6-Cl2C6H3; R′ = 2,6-Me2C6H3, 2,6-iPr2C6H3, 2,6-F2CeH3, C6F5, C6Cl5] exhibited from moderate to remarkable catalytic activities for ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of norbornene (NBE). The catalytic activities were affected by the ligand substituents, and V(CHSiMe3)(N-2,6-Cl2C6H3)(OC6X5)(PMe3)2 (X = F, Cl) demonstrated the exceptionally high catalytic activities for ROMP of NBE. The complexes polymerized cycloheptene (CHPE) and cis-cyclooctene (COE), and ROMP of COE by the OC6Cl5 analogue proceeded in a living manner even at 80 °C, and the activity increased with increasing the temperature up to 120 °C. Highly active catalysts for ROMP of cyclic olefins (NBE, cyclopentene, and CHPE) can be generated in situ by premixing isolated V(CHSiMe3)(NC6F5)(O-2,6-iPr2C6H3)(PMe3)2 with 1.0 equiv. of C6F5OH or C6Cl5OH via immediate phenoxy exchange; the activity was affected by the kind of phenol added [TOF in the ROMPs of NBE: 4.62 × 104 min−1 (upon addition of C6F5OH) versus 37.3 min−1 (none)].