Palladium carboxylate/boron trifluoride etherate catalyst system for the selective dimerization of styrene

[Pd(acac)(MeCN)2]BF4: air-tolerant, activator-free catalyst for alkene dimerization and polymerization

“…), [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] [(L^L)PdMe(solv)] BAF (L^L ¼ a-diimine, P^O, solv ¼ MeCN, dmso), 5,[17][18][19][20] [(a-diimine)Pd((CH 2 ) 3 C(O)OCH 3 )]BAF, 5 [Pd(NCCH 3 ) 4 ](BF 4 ) 2 , 11,21-23 [Pd(PPh 3 ) 3 (NCCH 3 )](BF 4 ) 2 , 24,25 [(a-diimine)Pd(NCCH 3 ) 2 ][BF 4 ] 2 , 26 and [(a-diimine)Pd(m-OH)] 2 [BF 4 ] 2 , 27 which require no cocatalyst for their activation toward olen oligomerization and polymerization. Aluminum alkyl-free cationic Pd-catalyzed systems with O^O-chelating ligands (O^O ¼ b-diketonates or carboxylates) have shown promising results for oligomerization of ethylene, 28 selective dimerization of styrene, [29][30][31][32][33] and polymerization of norbornene and its derivates. [34][35][36] However, these Pd-catalyzed systems needed an additional Lewis acid such as BF 3 $OEt 2 , In(OTf) 3 or Cu(OTf) 2 to generate active catalytic species.…”