Univalent Gallium Complexes of Simple and ansa-Arene Ligands: Effects on the Polymerization of Isobutylene.

Abstract

Using [Ga(C6 H5 F)2 ]+ [Al(ORF )4 ]- (1) (RF =C(CF3 )3 ) as starting material, we isolated bis- and tris-η6 -coordinated gallium(I) arene complex salts of p-xylene (1,4-Me2 C6 H4 ), hexamethylbenzene (C6 Me6 ), diphenylethane (PhC2 H4 Ph), and m-terphenyl (1,3-Ph2 C6 H4 ): [Ga(1,4-Me2 C6 H4 )2.5 ]+ (2+ ), [Ga(C6 Me6 )2 ]+ (3+ ), [Ga(PhC2 H4 Ph)]+ (4+ ) and [(C6 H5 F)Ga(μ-1,3-Ph2 C6 H4 )2 Ga(C6 H5 F)]2+ (52+ ). 4+ is the first structurally characterized ansa-like bent sandwich chelate of univalent gallium and 52+ the first binuclear gallium(I) complex without a GaGa bond. Beyond confirming the structural findings by multinuclear NMR spectroscopic investigations and density functional calculations (RI-BP86/SV(P) level), [Ga(PhC2 H4 Ph)]+ [Al(ORF )4 ]- (4) and [(C6 H5 F)Ga(μ-1,3-Ph2 C6 H4 )2 Ga(C6 H5 F)]2+ {[Al(ORF )4 ] - }2 (5), featuring ansa-arene ligands, were tested as catalysts for the synthesis of highly reactive polyisobutylene (HR-PIB). In comparison to the recently published 1 and the [Ga(1,3,5-Me3 C6 H3 )2 ]+ [Al(ORF )4 ]- salt (6) (1,3,5-Me3 C6 H3 =mesitylene), 4 and 5 gave slightly reduced reactivities. This allowed for favorably increased polymerization temperatures of up to +15 °C, while yielding HR-PIB with high contents of terminal olefinic double bonds (α-contents=84-93 %), low molecular weights (Mn =1000-3000 g mol-1 ) and good monomer conversions (up to 83 % in two hours). While the chelate complexes delivered more favorable results than 1 and 6, the reaction kinetics resembled and thus concurred with the recently proposed coordinative polymerization mechanism.