A Highly Lewis Acidic Strontium <i>ansa</i>‐Arene Complex for Lewis Acid Catalysis and Isobutylene Polymerization

Abstract

Abstract The potential of a dicationic strontium ansa ‐arene complex for Lewis acid catalysis has been explored. The key to its synthesis was a simple salt metathesis from SrI 2 and 2 Ag[Al(OR F ) 4 ], giving the base‐free strontium‐perfluoroalkoxyaluminate Sr[Al(OR F ) 4 ] 2 (OR F =OC(CF 3 ) 3 ). Addition of an ansa ‐arene yielded the highly Lewis acidic, dicationic strontium ansa ‐arene complex. In preliminary experiments, the complex was successfully applied as a catalyst in CO 2 ‐reduction to CH 4 and a surprisingly controlled isobutylene polymerization reaction.