Indium complexes incorporating bidentate substituted pyrrole ligand: Synthesis, characterization, and ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone

Abstract The reactions of InCl 3 with two and three equivalents of lithium (2-dimethylaminomethyl)pyrrolate ( 1 ) in diethyl ether solutions afford In[C 4 H 3 N(CH 2 NMe 2 )] 2 Cl ( 2 ) and In[C 4 H 3 N(CH 2 NMe 2 )] 3 ( 3 ) in 92% and 50% yield, respectively. Subsequent reactions of 2 with MeLi and Li(C CPh) yield In[C 4 H 3 N(CH 2 NMe 2 )] 2 Me ( 4 ) and In[C 4 H 3 N(CH 2 NMe 2 )] 2 (C CPh) ( 5 ), respectively. All compounds were confirmed by 1 H and 13 C NMR spectroscopy and compounds 3 , 4 , and 5 were further characterized by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Compounds 2 , 3 , and 4 showed moderate catalytic activity toward the ring-opening polymerization of e-caprolactone.