Stereospecific Styrene Enchainment at a Titanium Site within a Helical Ligand Framework: Evidence for the Formation of Homochiral Polystyrene

Tactful: Titanium catalyst precursors in both optically active, enantiomeric forms have been obtained diastereoselectively, and after activation with methylaluminoxane (MAO) they were used for the stereospecific oligomerization of styrene. The isotactic polystyrenes with a degree of polymerization of up to 45 show measurable optical activity, thus corroborating that enantiomorphic site control is operating in these homogeneous catalysts.