Faculty of Science (FNWI) - Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (HIMS)
Abstract
Breath-taking activation: Stereoregular carbene polymerization proceeds via cationic [(allyl)RhIII-polymeryl]+ species. These are most efficiently generated by oxygenation of the [(diene)RhI] precatalysts, which involves an unusual rearrangement of 2-rhodaoxetane intermediates. This discovery gives detailed insight in the reaction mechanism.
