Synergistic Empirical and Theoretical Study on the Stereoselective Mechanism for the Aluminum Salalen Complex Mediated Polymerization of <i>rac</i>‐Lactide

Abstract

Open your ring: Aluminum salalen complexes are used to initiate the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of rac-lactide (LA). The reaction pathway of the LA isomers was elucidated by a detailed computational study, which revealed that small changes in the catalytic “bag” implicate the change in induced tacticity (see scheme; PLA= polylactide).