Designing ancillary ligands for heteroleptic/homoleptic zinc complex formation: synthesis, structures and application in ROP of lactidesElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: 1H, 13C, COSY, NOESY and DOSY spectra, DFT optimised structures and energies, van der Waals and Connolly surfaces, X-ray experimental data and refinement. CCDC 1046687, 1046688 and 1046691. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c5dt01553g

• Main Authors: J drzkiewicz, D, Ejfler, J, Gulia, N, John, ., Szafert, S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1477-9226; 1477-9234
• DOI: 10.1039/c5dt01553g

Synthesis and characterization of a series of new amino-phenol/naphthol ligands ( L 1,2 -H ) have been developed and their respective zinc complexes ( 1 and 2-Zn ) have been synthesized. The molecular structures of L 1 -H and 1 , 2-Zn were explored in detail by NMR, single-crystal X-ray studies and DFT calculations, which confirmed the existence of complexes as stabile dimers both in a solution and in the solid state. All complexes mediate the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of lactide highly efficiently, at room temperature, in a controlled fashion. The influence of the architecture of the ligand on the desired homo/heteroleptic complex formation, as well as the relationship between the initiator design and the catalytic activity have been investigated. Synthesis and characterization of a series of new amino-phenol/naphthol ligands ( L 1,2 -H ) have been developed and their respective zinc complexes ( 1 and 2-Zn ) have been synthesized.