A trinuclear silver(I) functionalized N-heterocyclic carbene complex and its use in transmetalation: Structure and catalytic activity for olefin polymerization

Deprotonation of an imidazolium salt with silver oxide forms the silver carbene complex {[Ag(C boolean AND N)(2)](3)I}-I-2 (2; C boolean AND N) 3-methyl-1-picolylimidazolin-2-ylidene). The Ag-carbene complex undergoes a facile reaction with Pd(PhCN)(2)Cl-2 to yield the carbene complex Pd(C boolean AND N)Cl-2 (3). Complexes 2 and 3 have been characterized by IR, H-1 and C-13 NMR spectra, and elemental analyses. The molecular structures of complexes 2 and 3 have been confirmed by X-ray single-crystal analyses. Complex 2 shows moderate catalytic activities of up to 10(5) g of PE (mol of Ag)(-1) h(-1) for ethylene polymerization, and complex 3 shows very high catalytic activities of up to 108 g of PNB (mol of Pd)(-1) h(-1) for the addition polymerization of norbornene in the presence of methylaluminoxane (MAO) as cocatalyst.