Titanium ONN-(phenolate) Alkoxide Complexes: Unique Reaction Kinetics for Ring-Opening Polymerization of Cyclic Esters

The synthesis, characterization, and polymerization kinetics of four new titanium ONN-(phenolate) alkoxide catalysts were studied. Each catalyst is fluxional at room temperature, suggesting the ligand amine arm may be labile, but adopts a fac geometry in solution at low temperature (223 K) and in the solid state. All catalysts are active for the ring-opening polymerization of both ε-caprolactone (CL) and rac-lactide (LA). GPC analysis indicates that the well-known coordination-insertion mechanism is being followed. However, whereas the typical first-order dependence on monomer concentration is observed in CL, an unexpected zeroth-order dependence is observed with LA. This suggests that, in the case of LA, catalyst saturation occurs and a Michaelis–Menten model can be used to explain the kinetics. An initial mechanism is discussed within this model that proposes CL polymerization proceeds by a 7-coordinate intermediate, whereas LA polymerization adopts a 6-coordinate intermediate, facilitated by the ligand amine arm. Attempts to isolate catalyst-monomer intermediates are ongoing.