Use of group 13 aryloxides for the synthesis of green chemicals and oxide materials.

In this work, group 13 metal aryloxides [Al(MesalO)] (1), [MeGa(MesalO)] (2), [AlLi(MesalO)] (3) and [MeGaLi(MesalO)(THF)] (4) were obtained by the reaction of methyl salicylate (MesalOH) with group-13 alkyls MMe (for M = Al, Ga) or their combination with BuLi in a THF/alcohol solution. The direct reaction of MMe (for M = Al, Ga) and MesalOH (1 : 3) led to compound 1 or 2, respectively. When the same reactions were carried out with additional BuLi, the heterometallic compound 3 or the mixture of 4 and [Li(MesalO)] (5) was obtained. Compounds 1-5 were used for the chemical conversion of glycerol to α-hydroxy acid glyceryl esters by alcoholysis of L-lactide (L-LA), glycolide (GA), and ε-caprolactone (ε-CL). Compounds 1-5 were also efficient initiators for the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of L-LA, GA, and ε-CL using glycerol as a branching agent to synthesize 3-arm polyesters. Heterometallic compounds 3 and 4 were attractive molecular precursors for the preparation of group 13-lithium ceramics, γ-LiAlO and β-LiGaO.