Synthetic and mechanistic aspects of the immortal ring-opening polymerization of lactide and trimethylene carbonate with new homo- and heteroleptic tin(II)-phenolate catalysts.

Several new heteroleptic Sn(II) complexes supported by amino-ether phenolate ligands [Sn{LO(n)}(Nu)] (LO(1)=2-[(1,4,7,10-tetraoxa-13-azacyclopentadecan-13-yl)methyl]-4,6-di-tert-butylphenolate, Nu=NMe(2) (1), N(SiMe(3))(2) (3), OSiPh(3) (6); LO(2)=2,4-di-tert-butyl-6-(morpholinomethyl)phenolate, Nu=N(SiMe(3))(2) (7), OSiPh(3) (8)) and the homoleptic Sn{LO(1)}(2) (2) have been synthesized. The alkoxy derivatives [Sn{LO(1)}(OR)] (OR=OiPr (4), (S)-OCH(CH(3))CO(2)iPr (5)), which were generated by alcoholysis of the parent amido precursor, were stable in solution but could not be isolated. [Sn{LO(1)}](+)[H(2)N{B(C(6)F(5))(3)}(2)](-) (9), a rare well-defined, solvent-free tin cation, was prepared in high yield. The X-ray crystal structures of compounds 3, 6, and 8 were elucidated, and compounds 3, 6, 8, and 9 were further characterized by (119)Sn Mössbauer spectroscopy. In the presence of iPrOH, compounds 1-5, 7, and 9 catalyzed the well-controlled, immortal ring-opening polymerization (iROP) of L-lactide (L-LA) with high activities (ca. 150-550 mol(L-LA) mol(Sn)(-1) h(-1)) for tin(II) complexes. The cationic compound 9 required a higher temperature (100 °C) than the neutral species (60 °C); monodisperse poly(L-LA)s were obtained in all cases. The activities of the heteroleptic pre-catalysts 1, 3, and 7 were virtually independent of the nature of the ancillary ligand, and, most strikingly, the homoleptic complex 2 was equally competent as a pre-catalyst. Polymerization of trimethylene carbonate (TMC) occurs much more slowly, and not at all in the presence of LA; therefore, the generation of PLA-PTMC copolymers is only possible if TMC is polymerized first. Mechanistic studies based on (1)H and (119)Sn{(1)H} NMR spectroscopy showed that the addition of an excess of iPrOH to compound 3 yielded a mixture of compound 4, compound [Sn(OiPr)(2)](n) 10, and free {LO(1)}H in a dynamic temperature-dependent and concentration-dependent equilibrium. Upon further addition of L-LA, two active species were detected, [Sn{LO(1)}(OPLLA)] (12) and [Sn(OPLLA)(2)] (14), which were also in fast equilibrium. Based on assignment of the (119)Sn{(1)H} NMR spectrum, all of the species present in the ROP reaction were identified; starting from either the heteroleptic (1, 3, 7) or homoleptic (2) pre-catalysts, both types of pre-catalysts yielded the same active species. The catalytic inactivity of the siloxy derivative 6 confirmed that ROP catalysts of the type 1-5 could not operate according to an activated-monomer mechanism. These mechanistic studies removed a number of ambiguities regarding the mechanism of the (i)ROPs of L-LA and TMC promoted by industrially relevant homoleptic or heteroleptic Sn(II) species.