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Oligomerisation and stereoselective polymerisation of alkenes and alkynes using pyridyl-based Al(iii) catalysts
Dipanjana Choudhury1, Richard Danylyuk1, Alexandros Terzopoulos1
1Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge Lensfield Rd. Cambridge CB2 1EW UK oas23@cam.ac.uk jmg11@cam.ac.UK dsw1000@cam.ac.uk.
Abstract:
Dealkylation of the dimers [R2Al(2-py')]2 (2-py' = 6-substituted pyridyl, R = Me, iBu) with [Ph3C][B(C6F5)4] gives the putative cations [RAl(2-py')2(µ-R)AlR]+ which can polymerise a range of alkenes with a high degree of stereoregularity (syndiotacticity in the case of polystyrene) and which cylotrimerise terminal alkynes to trisubstituted benzenes and a fulvene. This is the first report of stereoslective Al(iii) polymerisation and of the cyclotrimerisation of alkynes by static catalysis using a main group metal.
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