The enhanced catalytic performance of cobalt catalysts towards butadiene polymerization by introducing a labile donor in a salen ligand

A family of cobalt complexes supported by a tridentate Schiff base ligand with a labile donor (O, S, N) as a pendant arm (Co1-Co12, formulated as CoL2) were synthesized by the treatment of the corresponding ligands with cobalt acetate tetrahydrate. The resultant complexes were well characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, magnetic moment as well as EI-MS. The solid-state structures of Co7 and Co12 were determined by X-ray diffraction and both established a distorted octahedron geometry around the cobalt center. The butadiene polymerization capabilities of the 12 complexes were evaluated and compared in representative cases. Diethylaluminum chloride (AlEt2Cl) was found to be the compatible activator resulting in highly active catalysts for producing polybutadiene of 93.8-98.2% cis-1,4 enchainment with negligible 1,2-structure and trans-1,4 units. It appears that a certain degree of lability of the donor is beneficial for high catalytic activity, generally following the order of O > S > N, and the high cis-1,4 selectivity. Moreover, the remarkable thermal stability of these systems has been achieved: the catalytic systems have the ability of conducting a high level of active and selective polymerization, reaching an upper limit of polymerization temperature of about 70 °C. The enhanced catalytic performances were further rationalized by the established diene polymerization mechanism, which could shed light on developing highly selective and reactive industrially applicable catalysts with an enhanced thermal stability.