Issue 2, 2022

The versatile roles of neutral donor ligands in tuning catalyst performance for the ring-opening polymerization of cyclic esters

Abstract

The ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of cyclic esters provides access to biodegradable polymers with materials properties that can be tailored through appropriate catalyst design. Introduction of neutral donor ligands has emerged as an attractive opportunity to tune catalyst performance in a rational, inexpensive, and operationally simple manner; however, broader application of these ligands has been limited by our mechanistic-level understanding of these additives. In this perspective, we highlight the versatile roles of neutral donor ligands in modulating catalyst performance in the ROP of cyclic esters, and identify several unifying concepts and trends that emerge across a diverse range of catalyst systems (group I, II, XII–XIV, and the rare-earths (group III and the lanthanides)), neutral donor ligands (ethers, crown-ethers, amines, guanidines, carbenes, phosphines, and phosphine-oxides), and cyclic esters (ε-caprolactone, lactide, β-lactones). Shared learnings in design strategies, bonding preferences, and mechanisms of action help solidify relationships between catalyst structure and function, and illuminate promising future directions to leverage these effects in the synthesis of sustainable polymers.

Graphical abstract: The versatile roles of neutral donor ligands in tuning catalyst performance for the ring-opening polymerization of cyclic esters

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
01 Kho 2021
Accepted
22 Huk 2021
First published
29 Huk 2021

New J. Chem., 2022,46, 444-453

The versatile roles of neutral donor ligands in tuning catalyst performance for the ring-opening polymerization of cyclic esters

X. Dong and J. R. Robinson, New J. Chem., 2022, 46, 444 DOI: 10.1039/D1NJ02694A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements