Cyclopentadienyl Amidinate Ligand Directing Effects in the Enantioselective Living Coordinative Chain Transfer Polymerization of 1,5-Hexadiene

The new chiral and configurationally stable cyclopentadienyl amidinate (CPAM) hafnium complexes, (RC, RHf)-2 and (SC, SHf)-3, have been obtained in enantio- and diastereomerically pure form. Upon activation with the borate co-initiator, [PhNHMe2][B(C6F5)4] (B1), 2 and 3 can serve as pre-initiators for the enantioselective living coordinative polymerization (LCP) and living coordinative chain transfer polymerization (LCCTP) of 1,5-hexadiene to provide optically active poly (methylene-1,3-cyclopentane) (PMCP) and end-group-functionalized PMCP (x-PMCP) in scalable quantities, respectively. 13C NMR stereochemical microstructural analyses reveal the role of ligand directing effects for the two-step propagation mechanism of 1,2-migratory insertion/ring-closing cyclization and structure/property relationships for these new PMCP and x-PMCP materials.