Rare-earth-metal-hydrocarbyl complexes bearing linked cyclopentadienyl or fluorenyl ligands: synthesis, catalyzed styrene polymerization, and structure-reactivity relationship.

A series of rare-earth-metal-hydrocarbyl complexes bearing N-type functionalized cyclopentadienyl (Cp) and fluorenyl (Flu) ligands were facilely synthesized. Treatment of [Y(CH(2)SiMe(3))(3)(thf)(2)] with equimolar amount of the electron-donating aminophenyl-Cp ligand C(5)Me(4)H-C(6)H(4)-o-NMe(2) afforded the corresponding binuclear monoalkyl complex [({C(5)Me(4)-C(6)H(4)-o-NMe(μ-CH(2))}Y{CH(2)SiMe(3)})(2)] (1a) via alkyl abstraction and C-H activation of the NMe(2) group. The lutetium bis(allyl) complex [(C(5)Me(4)-C(6)H(4)-o-NMe(2))Lu(η(3)-C(3)H(5))(2)] (2b), which contained an electron-donating aminophenyl-Cp ligand, was isolated from the sequential metathesis reactions of LuCl(3) with (C(5)Me(4)-C(6)H(4)-o-NMe(2))Li (1 equiv) and C(3)H(5)MgCl (2 equiv). Following a similar procedure, the yttrium- and scandium-bis(allyl) complexes, [(C(5)Me(4)-C(5)H(4)N)Ln(η(3)-C(3)H(5))(2)] (Ln=Y (3a), Sc (3b)), which also contained electron-withdrawing pyridyl-Cp ligands, were also obtained selectively. Deprotonation of the bulky pyridyl-Flu ligand (C(13)H(9)-C(5)H(4)N) by [Ln(CH(2)SiMe(3))(3)(thf)(2)] generated the rare-earth-metal-dialkyl complexes, [(η(3)-C(13)H(8)-C(5)H(4)N)Ln(CH(2)SiMe(3))(2)(thf)] (Ln=Y (4a), Sc (4b), Lu (4c)), in which an unusual asymmetric η(3)-allyl bonding mode of Flu moiety was observed. Switching to the bidentate yttrium-trisalkyl complex [Y(CH(2)C(6)H(4)-o-NMe(2))(3)], the same reaction conditions afforded the corresponding yttrium bis(aminobenzyl) complex [(η(3)-C(13)H(8)-C(5)H(4)N)Y(CH(2)C(6)H(4)-o-NMe(2))(2)] (5). Complexes 1-5 were fully characterized by (1)H and (13)C NMR and X-ray spectroscopy, and by elemental analysis. In the presence of both [Ph(3)C][B(C(6)F(5))(4)] and AliBu(3), the electron-donating aminophenyl-Cp-based complexes 1 and 2 did not show any activity towards styrene polymerization. In striking contrast, upon activation with [Ph(3)C][B(C(6)F(5))(4)] only, the electron-withdrawing pyridyl-Cp-based complexes 3, in particular scandium complex 3b, exhibited outstanding activitiy to give perfectly syndiotactic (rrrr >99%) polystyrene, whereas their bulky pyridyl-Flu analogues (4 and 5) in combination with [Ph(3)C][B(C(6)F(5))(4)] and AliBu(3) displayed much-lower activity to afford syndiotactic-enriched polystyrene.