COMCCAT · Crowded Organometallic Compounds in Catalysis

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Project objective

Organometallic compounds of zinc and aluminium will be synthesised as potential catalysts for the ring opening polymerisation of lactide and related monomers. By use of organic groups in which the carbon attached to the metal bears three triorganosilyl substituents it should be possible to make a range of compounds in which the metal-carbon bonds are protected and polymerisation reactions are directed towards metal-oxygen or metal-nitrogen bonds. By the introduction of triorganosilyl groups that themselves bear amido or alkoxo donor groups it will be possible to make the reactive sites chiral, restrict the orientation of incoming monomer and control the tacticity of the resulting polymers. The size and shape of the bulky tri(triorganosilyl)methyl ligands and the donor capacity of the substituents can also be varied to give further steric control of the active centre and thus polymers with a range of physical properties. This is important in the development of a wide variety of biodegradable materials for use in packaging, the food industry, medicine, horticulture and agriculture. The project will considerably extend the experience of the fellow, provide training in spectroscopie techniques and polymer characterisation, and give him opportunities for the acquisition of improved linguistic, presentational and management skills.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX · BRIGHTONCoordinatorUnited Kingdom

Links

• View on CORDIS