Abstract
(
SiO)
2ZrNp
2 Neopentyl zirconium complexes grafted on silica react with trimethylphosphine leading to the formation of a surface alkylidene complex while mono- and tri-grafted complexes do not react. All complexes react with the enolic form of acetone, leading to a removal of all neopentyl ligands.
The reactivity of trimethylphosphine with (
SiO)
x
ZrNp
4−
x
species (
x
=
1–3) synthesized on silica dehydroxylated at various temperatures has been studied. Only the bi-grafted (
SiO)
2ZrNp
2 complex reacts, leading to the formation of a surface alkylidene and evolution of neopentane. In presence of acetone the three neopentyl zirconium species react by the same way with evolution of neopentane and formation of enolate (
SiO)
x
Zr[OC(CH
3)(
CH
2)]
4−
x
species.