Syntheses of Group 4 ansa-Trovacene Complexes and Conversion of [1]Silatrovacenophanes into Paramagnetic Metallopolymers by Ring-Opening Polymerization

An improved protocol for the selective dilithiation of [V(eta(5)-C5H5)(eta(7)-C7H7)] has been developed, which afforded [V(eta(5)-C5H4Li)(eta(7)-C7H6Li)]center dot PMDTA (5; PMDTA=N,N,N',N '',N ''-pentamethyldiethylene-triamine) in almost quantitative yield (98%). In the solid state, the species features a dimeric structure with two terminal and two bridging lithium atoms, with the latter connecting both sandwich subunits. Reaction with suitable Group 4 dihalide compounds enabled the isolation of highly strained silicon-and germanium-bridged [1] trovacenophanes 6 and 7. Similarly, reaction of 5 with Cl(2)Sn(2)tBu(4) afforded the rather unstrained complex [V(eta(5)-C5H4)(eta(7)-C7H6)Sn(2)tBu(4)] (8), which together with 7 represent the first trovacenophanes to incorporate heavier analogues of silicon in the ansa-bridge. Ring-opening polymerization reactions of [V(eta(5)-C5H4)(eta(7)-C7H6)SiRR'] (2a: R=R'=Me; 6: R=Me, R'=iPr) were performed by heating in a solution of toluene in the presence of the Karstedt catalyst, which resulted in the formation of the corresponding soluble poly(trovacenylsilanes) in yields of 41 and 33%, respectively. As estimated by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), the macromolecules possess molecular weights of M-n=10010 and 5580 g mol(-1) with polydispersity indices of 2.31 and 1.64 for 9 and 10, respectively. ESR spectroscopic studies on 9 and 10 revealed only a single broad resonance in each case without any identifiable V-51 hyperfine coupling.