Park, Elizabeth: Synthesis and Exploration of the Reactivity of a Chiral ansa-Bis(indenyl) Zirconocene Bearing a Chiral Backbone Derived from L-tartaric Acid
Title: Synthesis and Exploration of the Reactivity of a Chiral ansa-Bis(indenyl) Zirconocene Bearing a Chiral Backbone Derived from L-tartaric Acid
Name: Elizabeth Park
Major: Chemistry
School affiliation: Honors College, School of Arts and Sciences
Programs: Aresty – Research or Conference Funding Recipient, Chemistry Research
Other contributors: Zachary Sercel, Brian Stoltz
Abstract: Zirconium ansa-bis(indenyl) metallocene complexes are of considerable interest as catalysts for the stereoregular polymerization of olefins due to their planar chirality and selectivity for enantioriched polypropylene. The reactivity of these complexes can be further explored for olefin isomerization to achieve industrially and pharmaceutically relevant products as well as asymmetric olefin polymerization of racemic compounds to achieve kinetic resolution. We sought to explore the reactivity of a zirconium ansa-bis(indenyl) metallocene bearing a chiral backbone derived from L-tartaric acid, an inexpensive, C2 symmetrical building block from the chiral pool. Our goal is to isolate and characterize the zirconium ansa-bis(indenyl) complex and investigate the catalyst’s reactivity towards olefins for kinetic resolution and isomerization. Future work includes exploration of the production of industrially and biologically important molecules using the tartarate-derived catalyst.