Titanium ONN-(phenolate) Alkoxide Complexes: Unique Reaction Kinetics for Ring-Opening Polymerization of Cyclic Esters.

The synthesis, characterization, and polymerization kinetics of four new titanium ONN-(phenolate) alkoxide catalysts were studied. Each catalyst is fluxional at room temperature, suggesting the ligand amine arm may be labile, but adopts a geometry in solution at low temperature (223 K) and in the solid state. All catalysts are active for the ring-opening polymerization of both ε-caprolactone (CL) and -lactide (LA).