Mechanistic aspects of the metal catalyzed alternating copolymerization of epoxides and carbon monoxide

The cobalt-catalyzed alternating copolymerization of epoxides and CO is a novel, direct approach to aliphatic polyesters, such as poly(hydroxybutyrate) (PHB). This reaction was found to be catalyzed by Ph₃Si-[Co(CO) ₄] (4) and pyridine affording in a first step the stable mono-insertion product Ph₃Si-O-CH(CH₃)-CH ₂-CO-Co(CO)₄ (5). However, a profound mechanistic understanding, especially of the role of pyridine as the key com ponent for the polymerization reaction was missing. ATR-IR online monitoring under catalytic conditions and DFT calculations were used to show that an acylpyridinium cation is formed by cleavage of the cobalt-acyl bond of 5 in the presence of pyridine. The Lewis acid thus generated activates the next incoming epoxide monomer for ring opening through [Co(CO)₄]^-. The catalytic cycle is completed by a subsequent CO insertion in the new cobalt-alkyl bond. The calculations are used to explore the energetic hypersurface of the polymerization reaction and are complemented by extended experimental investigations that also support the mechanistic hypotheses.