Several racemic or enantiomerically pure complexes of the general
type Mo(CHR)(NR‘)(O2R‘‘) that contain binaphtholate or biphenolate
(O2R‘‘) ligands have been prepared and employed
to
ring open several achiral, racemic, or enantiomerically pure
norbornenes and norbornadienes. A bimodal
molecular weight distribution sometimes results from polymerization of
an enantiomerically pure monomer
with a racemic initiator as a consequence of a different rate of chain
growth from enantiomeric metal
centers. The analogous polymerization of an enantiomerically pure
monomer with an enantiomerically
pure initiator yields only a single polymer chain, as expected.
Evaluation of the cis content of the
resulting
polymers suggests that cis polymer results from
polymerization via syn alkylidene propagating
species
and that accessibility of the anti rotamer on the
polymerization time scale is determined by a subtle
combination of steric bulk in the biphenoxide and imido ligands.
All cis polymers were found to be highly
isotactic. The X-ray structures of two catalytically active
species are also described. One is a THF adduct
of 3,3‘-diphenyl-2,2‘-diolate-1,1‘-dinaphthyl (anti rotamer)
while the other is a base-free syn species that
contains the
6,6‘-dimethyl-3,3‘,5,5‘-tetra-tert-butyl-1,1‘-biphenyl-2,2‘-diolate
ligand.