Synthesis and molecular structure of new heterometal alkoxide clusters Ln2Na8(OCH2CF3)14(THF)6 (Ln=Sm,Y,Yb): Highly active catalysts for polymerization of ε-caprolactone and trimethylene carbonate
摘要:
The new polynuclear heterometal alkoxide clusters Ln(2)Na(8)(OCH2CF3)(14)(THF)(6) (Ln = Sm 1, Y 2, Yb 3) have been synthesized by the reaction of anhydrous LnCl(3) with 7 equiv. of NaOCH2CF3 in 68-75% yields. Crystal structural analysis revealed clusters 1-3 are isomorphous composed of two cubanes and a double open cubane, with one face of an Ln(1)Na(2)O(4) open cubane capped by an additional Ln(1)O(2) layer. Clusters 1-3 show extremely high activity for the polymerization of epsilon-caprolactone (epsilon-CL) and trimethylene carbonate (TMC). The reactivity is much higher than those found for the monometallic alkoxides lanthanide complexes previously reported. The dependence of catalytic activity on lanthanide metals is observed: Yb approximate to Y < Sm for epsilon-CL and Yb < Y < Sm for TMC. The polymers obtained with these clusters all show a unimodal molecular weight distribution with moderate molecular weight distributions (M-w/M-n = 1.4-1.7), indicating that clusters 1-3 can really be used as single-component catalysts. The bimetallic cooperation and the coordination-insertion mechanism were proposed. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd.