Some
novel monoalkyl-N-aryl-substituted iminopyridine
iron chloride complexes, differing in the nature of the substituent
at the iminic carbon and at the ortho position of
the aryl ring, were synthesized and characterized. For one of them,
single crystals were obtained, which allowed for the determination
of its crystalline structure, in which the iron center is coordinated
to the chlorides and to the two nitrogen atoms of the ligand. The
coordination around iron is distorted tetrahedral, a coordination
mode rarely identified for FeCl2 adducts with bidentate
nitrogen ligands. All the complexes were used, in combination with
methylaluminoxane, for the polymerization of 1,3-butadiene and isoprene,
providing syndiotactic 1,2 poly(1,3-butadiene)s and poly(isoprene)s
with a predominantly cis-1,4/3,4 alternating structure,
in which short cis-1,4 sequences of three or five
units, whose length depends on the nature of the ligand on the iron
atom, are present. A detailed NMR characterization (1H-, 13C-, and 2D experiments) of the resultant poly(isoprene)s
is reported, and a tentative scheme for the formation of the novel
isoprene polymers is proposed.