title: Long-lived palladium catalysts for CO/vinyl arene polyketones synthesis: a solution to deactivation problems.
abstract: A series of cationic palladium complexes of general formula [Pd(Me)(MeCN)(N-N)][PF(6)] (N-N = (phen) 1 a, 4,7-dichloro-1,10-phenanthroline (4,7-Cl(2)-phen) 2 a, 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (4,7-Ph(2)-phen) 3 a, 4-methyl-1,10-phenanthroline (4-Me-phen) 4 a, 4,7-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (4,7-Me(2)-phen) 5 a, 5,5,6,6-tetrafluoro-5,6-dihydro-1,10-phenanthroline (F(4)-phen) 6 a, containing different substituted phenanthroline ligands, have been prepared from the corresponding neutral chloro derivatives [Pd(Me)(Cl)(N-N)], (1 b-6 b). The X-ray crystal structure of [Pd(Cl)(2)(4,7-Cl(2)-phen)] (2 b') was determined. DFT calculations show that the electron density on the metal is tuned by the substituents on the ligands. The catalytic behavior of complexes 1 a-6 a in the CO/styrene and CO/p-Me-styrene copolymerizations was studied in detail, showing that the generated catalysts are active for at least 90 h, yielding copolymers of high molecular weight. A firm correlation between the electron density on palladium on the one hand and the catalytic activity of the complexes and the molecular weight and the stereochemistry of the polyketones synthesized on the other hand has been established: the catalyst containing the F(4)-phen is thus far the most active among those tested, yielding the syndiotactic CO/styrene copolymer with a stereoregularity of 96 % (uu triad) and with an M(w) value of 1 000 000.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università di Trieste Via Licio Giorgieri 1, 34127 Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Jérôme
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Durand
authors.forename: Ennio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zangrando
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stener
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fronzoni
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carfagna
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Binotti
authors.forename: Paul C J
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Kamer
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caporali
authors.forename: Piet W N M
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: van Leeuwen
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vogt
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Milani