• Well characterized homoleptic bis(β-ketoiminate) monozinc complexes. • Bidentate N-alkyl-β-ketoiminate with tert-butyl substituents on the ligand backbone. • Metal catalysts to prepare biocompatible aliphatic polylactide. • Good catalytic activities towards the ROP of rac-lactide in the absence of alcohol. A series of N-alkyl-β-ketoiminate monozinc complexes [{tBuCN(R)CHC(O)CtBu} 2 Zn] (R = Me, 2a ; Et, 2b ; Pr, 2c ; iPr, 2d ; Cy, 2e ) were synthesized from the reaction of diethyl zinc with the corresponding β-ketimines. All these zinc complexes were characterized by NMR, elemental analysis and HRMS spectroscopy. The molecular structures of complexes 2 b -2 e were further confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structures exhibit that each zinc center is four-coordinate, and surrounded by two bidentate β-ketoiminate ligands, forming a distorted tetrahedral geometry. These homoleptic bis(β-ketoiminate) zinc complexes are active towards the ring-opening polymerization of rac-lactide in the absence of alcohol, yielding over 90% conversions within 1 h at 70 o C in toluene with the ratio of monomer to catalyst being 100.
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