Syndioselective Ring-Opening Polymerization of β-Lactones Enabled by Dimethylbiphenyl-Salen Yttrium Complexes.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) have served as promising alternatives to traditional petroleum-based plastics. Chemical synthesis of stereoregular PHAs via stereocontrolled ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of racemic β-lactones was a desired strategy with a formidable challenge. Herein, we developed a class of DiMeBiPh-salen yttrium complexes that adopted a -α configuration for stereoselective ROP of -β-butyrolactones (-BBL) and -β-valerolactone (-BVL).