Zinc anilido-oxazolinate complexes as initiators for ring opening polymerization.

Three new anilido-oxazolines, ortho-C(6)H(4)(NHAr')(4,4-dimethyl-2-oxazoline) [Ar'=2,4,6-trimethylphenyl, HNPh(TriMe)Oxa (1); 2,6-diisopropylphenyl, HNPh(DiiPr)Oxa (2); 2-methoxyphenyl, HNPh(OMe)Oxa (3)], have been prepared. Reactions of 1 or 2 with one molar equivalent of ZnEt(2) in tetrahydrofuran or hexane solution give the zinc ethyl complexes (NPh(TriMe)Oxa)ZnEt (4) and (NPh(DiiPr)Oxa)ZnEt (5). The dinuclear zinc benzyloxide complexes, [(NAr'Oxa)Zn(mu-OBn)](2), [Ar'=2,4,6-trimethylphenyl, (6); 2-methoxyphenyl, (7)], were synthesized by the reaction of 4 with one molar equivalent of benzyl alcohol in tetrahydrofuran solution (for 6) or by treatment of with 3 one molar equivalent of ZnEt(2) in tetrahydrofuran solution followed by the addition of one molar equivalent of benzyl alcohol (for 7). The molecular structures are reported for compounds 6 and 7. Their catalytic activities toward the ring opening polymerization reactions are under investigation.