2026/04/27 by Cyler W. Vos, Rylan R. T. Croke, Jian-Bin Lin +1 · 1 voice
Chemical Engineering · Chemistry · Materials Science · #Carbon dioxide utilization in catalysis #Organometallic Complex Synthesis and Catalysis #biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties
paper · doi:10.26434/chemrxiv.15002455/v1
openalex publication_date 2026/04/27 · openalex created_date 2026/04/29 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/14
The synthesis and structural characterization of multinuclear complexes containing aminobis(phenolate) ligands with zinc and magnesium centres are reported. Trimetallic zinc complex Zn 2 (Zn(OAc) 2 ) [L] 2 ( 1 ) (where [L] = dimethylaminoethylamino-N,N-bis(2-methylene-4-methyl-6methoxyphenolate)) was reacted with magnesium acetate in methanol to form a heterometallic complex, Zn 2 (Mg(OAc) 2 ) [L] 2 with different levels of occupancy at the central metal site depending on the reaction conditions used. Addition of methanolic solutions of Mg(OAc) 2 at –78 °C and warming to room temperature gave a complex with 74% of the central zinc positions replaced with magnesium ( 2 ). Heating the methanolic solution to reflux resulted in a higher displacement of the central zinc positions, giving 94% occupancy of the central metal site by magnesium ( 3 ). A multimetallic complex containing three Zn(II) centres and four K(I) centres, two L ligands, and six acetate co-ligands, [LZn(OAc)] 2 Zn(KOAc) 4 ( 4 ), was also synthesized and characterized. Complexes 1 and 3 catalyze the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of rac -lactide ( rac -LA), giving polyesters with and without the presence of benzyl alcohol (BnOH) as a cocatalyst. Complexes 1 and 3 also catalyze ring-opening copolymerization (ROCOP) of cyclohexene oxide (CHO) and phthalic anhydride (PA), giving moderate molar mass polymers with narrow dispersities.