Zinc versus Magnesium: Orthogonal Catalyst Reactivity in Selective Polymerizations of Epoxides, Bio-derived Anhydrides and Carbon Dioxide

Prabhjot K. Saini, Giulia Fiorani, Robert T. Mathers, Charlotte K. Williams

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

45 Scopus citations

Abstract

Developing selective polymerizations from complex monomer mixtures is an important challenge. Here, dinuclear catalysts allow selective polymerization from mixtures of sterically hindered tricyclic anhydrides, carbon dioxide and epoxides to yield well-controlled copoly(ester-carbonates). Surprisingly, two very similar homogeneous catalysts differing only in the central metal, zinc versus magnesium, show very high but diametrically opposite monomer selectivity. The selectivity is attributed to different polymerization kinetics and to steric factors associated with the anhydrides.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)4260-4265
Number of pages6
JournalChemistry - A European Journal
Volume23
Issue number18
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 28 2017

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Catalysis
  • Organic Chemistry

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