New atropisomeric N-N ligands for CO/vinyl arene copolymerization reaction

New atropisomeric bidentate bipyridine-based ligands (3,3’-(ethylenedioxy)-2,2’-bipyridine 3;3,3’-(propylenedioxy)-2,2’-bipyridine 4; 3,3’-(butylenedioxy)-2,2’-bipyridine 5) containing a bridge between the 3,3’ positions of the aromatic rings have been prepared. Together with the previously reported analogous ligands ((R)-3,3’-(1-methylethylenedioxy)-2,2’-bipyridine) 1 and ((S,S)-3,3’-(1,2-dimethylethylenedioxy)-2,2’-bipyridine) 2, they were used to synthesize the corresponding bis-chelated dicationic complexes [Pd(N–N)2][PF6] 2. Crystal structures and comparison of the data obtained by X-ray analysis on four of these complexes is reported. These palladium compounds were used as precatalysts in the CO/styrene and CO/4-Me-styrene copolymerization reactions, where they showed that small variations in the ligand backbone remarkably affects the productivity of the catalytic system.