N-Oxides amplify catalyst reactivity and isoselectivity in the ring-opening polymerization of rac-β-butyrolactone

Xiang Dong; Alexander M Brown; Audra J Woodside; Jerome R Robinson

doi:10.1039/d1cc05127j

N-Oxides amplify catalyst reactivity and isoselectivity in the ring-opening polymerization of rac-β-butyrolactone

Chem Commun (Camb). 2022 Feb 24;58(17):2854-2857. doi: 10.1039/d1cc05127j.

Authors

Xiang Dong¹, Alexander M Brown¹, Audra J Woodside¹, Jerome R Robinson¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. jerome_robinson@brown.edu.

PMID: 35137743
DOI: 10.1039/d1cc05127j

Abstract

N-Oxides can amplify the performance of a lanthanum aminobisphenolate catalyst in the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of rac-β-butyrolactone (rac-BBL) to unprecedented levels (TOF/P_m; At RT: 1900 h^-1/0.73, At -30 °C: 200 h^-1/0.82). Experiments and computations establish donor electronics control catalyst activity, while donor sterics control catalyst deactivation.