New structurally rigid palladium catalysts for the alternating copolymerization of carbon monoxide and ethene

Abstract

Decreasing the flexibility of the Ph2PCH2CH2PPh2 (dppe) backbone by making the central carbon atoms part of a cyclobutane ring leads to the formation of Pd(II) catalysts for CO/ethene copolymerization that are more efficient than those of dppe by a factor of ten.