Substituent Effects of Pyridyl-methylene Cyclopentadienyl Rare-earth Metal Complexes on Styrene Polymerization

Salt metathesis reactions between pyridyl-methylene-cyclopentadienyl lithium salt and LnCl_3 followed by the addition of two equivalents of LiCH_2SiMe_3 afforded a series of constrained-geometry-configuration rare-earth metal bis(alkyl) complexes(Cp′CH_2-Py)Ln(CH_2SiMe_3)_2(THF)_n(Py = C_5H_4N, Cp′ = C_5H_4(Cp), Ln = Sc, n = 0(1); Cp′ = C_9H_6(Ind), Ln = Sc, n = 0(2); Cp′ = 3-Me_3Si-C_9H_5(3-Me_3Si-Ind), Ln = Sc, n = 0(3a), Ln = Lu(3b), Y(3c), n = 1; Cp′ = 2,7-(~tBu)_2C_(13)H_8(2,7-(~tBu)_2-Flu), Ln = Sc(4 a), n = 0, Ln = Lu(4b),Y(4c), n = 1) in moderate to good yields, which were characterized by NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray diffraction(for complex 3a). In the presence of [Ph_3C][B(C_6F_5)_4] and Al^iBu_3, these complexes displayed different performances towards styrene polymerization. Rare-earth metal bis(alkyl) precursors bearing Cp, Ind, and 3-Me_3Si-Ind segments exhibited very low catalytic activity to afford syndiotactic polystyrene. All electron-donating t Bu substituted complexes 4 a, 4 b, and 4 c showed very high activity and perfect syndiotactivity(rrrr > 99%), producing high molecular weight polystyrene(up to 54.1 × 10~4) with relatively narrow molecular distribution(PDI = 1.28-2.49).

Rheological Study on the Cure Kinetics of Two-component Addition Cured Silicone Rubber

The cure kinetics for two-component silicone rubber formed by addition reaction was studied by the rheological method. The influence of reaction temperature （7） on the cure kinetics was explored in detail. It was observed that the data of gel time （tgel, i.e. the time when the reaction reaches the gel point） or a specific reaction time （tnc） （defined as the reaction time before which time the influence of confinement of network on the diffusion of reaction components can be neglected） versus T obey certain functional relationship, which was well explained by the cure kinetics model of thermoset network. The cure kinetics for the two-component silicone rubber can be well fitted by the Kamal-Sourour（autocatalyst） reaction model rather than Kissinger model. When the reaction time was before or equal to tnc, the reaction order obtained by the Kamal-Sourour reaction model was 2, which was consistent with the reaction order inferred from the two components chemical reaction when the diffusion of reaction components was not influenced by the formed cross-linked polymer network. When the reaction time was larger than tnc, such as to the end of reaction （re）, the influence of confinement of network on the diffusion of reaction components cannot be neglected, and the reaction order obtained by the Kamal-Sourour reaction model was larger than 2. It was concluded that the confinement effect of network had a greater influence on the cure kinetics of the silicone rubber. The reaction rate constants （kτ） under different temperatures were also determined by Kamal-Sourour reaction model. The activation energy （E） for the two-component silicone rubber was also calculated from the results of lntgcl, lnlnc, and lnkτ versus 1/T, respectively. The three values of E were close, which indicated that above analyses were self-consistent.