Abstract
The chemistry of titanium complexes stabilized by a series of cyclic silyldiamide ligands(cycl)Si(HNBut)2 (2) derived from the silacycloalkyl unit -(CH2)nSi-, with n = 3, 4, and 5, has been studied. Thus, a variety of spiro-siladiazatitanacyclobutane complexes (cycl)Si(NBut)2TiCl2 (3) has been prepared by the reaction of the dilithium salt of 2 with titanium tetrachloride. The reaction of 2 with Ti(NMe2)4 in refluxing toluene yields (cycl)Si(NBut)2-Ti(NMe2)2 (4), and the product 4 is converted to 3 in a moderate isolated yield by treatment with excess Me3SiCl. Dimethyl complexes of the type (cycl)Si(NBut)2TiMe2 (5) were prepared by the reaction of 3 with MeMgBr. Complexes 3 have been characterized by X-ray crystallography. As a result of the formation of the siladiazatitanacyclobutane ring, the titanium atoms in 3 exhibit distorted-tetrahedral configurations with the two chloride ligands. In addition, the crystallographic results establish that steric interactions between the silacycloalkyl and tert-butyl groups influence the C(But)-N-Ti angles and, hence, the steric environment at titanium. The compounds 3 were further investigated as potential catalysts for the polymerization of ethylene. While sterically less demanding silacyclobutyl and -pentyl diamide complexes (3a and 3b) exhibit low ethylene polymerization activity (4.0-5.8 kg PE molcat-1h-1) in the presence of methylalumoxane, the highly puckered silacyclohexyl diamide complex 3c shows better activity (14 kg PE molcat-1h-1) for ethylene polymerization when it is activated with MAO.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 2136-2144 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Organometallics |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2001 May 28 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
- Organic Chemistry
- Inorganic Chemistry