Comparative in vitro cytotoxicity toward human osteoprogenitor cells of polycaprolactones synthesized from various metallic initiators.

Various poly(epsilon-caprolactone)s (PCLs) prepared by ring-opening polymerization of epsilon-caprolactone (CL) initiated by a range of metallic derivatives such as alkoxides, Al(OiPr)(3), La(OiPr)(3), Sn(octanoate)(2), Ti(OiPr)(4), Zn[O(CH(2))(3)NH(t)Boc](2), or borohydride La(BH(4))(3)(THF)(3) were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicity. The amount of residual metal present in the polymer samples was measured and compared to the initial quantity introduced. The effect of the metallic system on the biocompatibility profiles of the resulting polyesters was evaluated in vitro on PCL films from a series of cytotoxicity tests involving MTT and neutral red assays upon exposure to human osteoprogenitor cells.

New insights into the polymerization of methyl methacrylate initiated by rare-earth borohydride complexes: a combined experimental and computational approach.

Polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) initiated by the rare-earth borohydride complexes [Ln(BH(4))(3)(thf)(3)] (Ln=Nd, Sm) or [Sm(BH(4))(Cp*)(2)(thf)] (Cp*=eta-C(5)Me(5)) proceeds at ambient temperature to give rather syndiotactic poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) with molar masses M(n) higher than expected and quite broad molar mass distributions, which is consistent with a poor initiation efficiency. The polymerization of MMA was investigated by performing density functional theory (DFT) calculations on an eta-C(5)H(5) model metallocene and showed that in the reaction of [Eu(BH(4))(Cp)(2)] with MMA the borate [Eu(Cp)(2){(OBH(3))(OMe)C=C(Me)(2)}] (e-2) complex, which forms via the enolate [Eu(Cp)(2){O(OMe)C=C(Me)(2)}] (e), is calculated to be exergonic and is the most likely of all of the possible products. This product is favored because the reaction that leads to the formation of carboxylate [Eu(Cp)(2){OOC-C(Me)(=CH(2))}] (f) is thermodynamically favorable, but kinetically disfavored, and both of the potential products from a Markovnikov [Eu(Cp)(2){O(OMe)C-CH(Me)(CH(2)BH(3))}] (g) or anti-Markovnikov [Eu(Cp)(2){O(OMe)C-C(Me(2))(BH(3))}] (h) hydroboration reaction are also kinetically inaccessible.

Unprecedented polymerization of trimethylene carbonate initiated by a samarium borohydride complex: mechanistic insights and copolymerization with epsilon-caprolactone.

Poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) was synthesized through ring-opening polymerization by using a rare-earth borohydride initiator, [Sm(BH(4))(3)(thf)(3)]. This initiator shows a high activity to give high-molar-mass PTMCs with molar-mass distributions ranging from 1.2 to 1.