Polymerization of acrylate monomers by iron(II) complexes bearing bis(imido)pyridyl or phosphine ligands

Iron(II) complexes bearing bis(imido)pyridyl or phosphine ligand were used for the polymerization of tert-butylacrylate and other (meth)acrylates after activation with methylaluminoxane. Phosphine based catalysts turned to be more active than the bis(imido)pyridyl ones. tert-Butylacrylate was the best polymerized monomer, while methylmethacrylate was slowly converted to poly(methylmethacrylate) and no activity was observed in the polymerization of styrene. Influence of the MAO to complex ratio was investigated and kinetics studies were conducted. Based on these results, a schematic representation of the polymerization mechanism was proposed.