Cationic and charge-neutral calcium tetrahydroborate complexes and their use in the controlled ring-opening polymerisation of rac-lactide

Michael G Cushion; Philip Mountford

doi:10.1039/c0cc04348f

Cationic and charge-neutral calcium tetrahydroborate complexes and their use in the controlled ring-opening polymerisation of rac-lactide

Chem Commun (Camb). 2011 Feb 28;47(8):2276-8. doi: 10.1039/c0cc04348f. Epub 2010 Dec 17.

Authors

Michael G Cushion¹, Philip Mountford

Affiliation

¹ Chemistry Research Laboratory, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, UK.

PMID: 21165502
DOI: 10.1039/c0cc04348f

Abstract

The first cationic main group tetrahydroborate complexes are reported. [Ca(BH(4))(THF)(5)][BPh(4)] and the charge neutral (Tp((t)Bu,Me))Ca(BH(4))(THF) are initiators for the living ring opening polymerization of rac-lactide, the latter producing PLA with high levels of heterotactic enrichment. These represent a new class of ROP initiators for main group metals.