Synthesis of a Chiral Meso-Like Ansa-Zirconocene Complex and its Use for the Catalytic Formation of Low Molecular Weight Polypropylene

Reaction of lithium(neomenthylcyclopentadienid) 3 with dimethyldichlorosilane gives dimethylbis[3-(neomenthyl)cyclopentadienyl]silane 4 regioselectively as a mixture of double bond shift isomers (57% isolated). Deprotonation with 2 equiv. of butyllithium followed by treatment with zirconiumtetrachloride furnished a mixture of the three {dimethylsilylenbis[η 5 -3-(neomenthyl)cyclopentadienyl][zirconium dichloride diastereomers from which the pure meso-like isomer 6e [p -R (1′S ,3 ′R ,4 ′R),p -S (1′S ,3 ′R ,4 ′R)] was isolated by fractional crystallization. Complex 6 c was characterized by an X-ray crystal structure analysis. Its D 1 - Zr - D 2 angle of 126.8° is very similar as observed in bis(η-cyclopentadienyl) zirconium dichloride (D 1 and D 2 denote the centroids of the cyclopentadienyl rings). The homogeneous 6c/methylalumoxane Ziegler-type catalyst produces polypropylene of low molecular weight (M η ≈ 670 at ambient temperature). Related catalyst systems may find interesting applications in organic synthesis.