A silica-supported double-decker silsesquioxane provides a second skin for the selective generation of bipodal surface organometallic complexes

Abstract

A well-defined silica-based material with a homogeneous nanolayer presenting identical pairs of vicinal silanols has been prepared by reaction of the surface organometallic species [≡SiOZr(CH 2CMe 3) 3], obtained on a silica dehydroxylated at 900 °C, with the double-decker-shaped silsesquioxane (OH) 2DD(OH) 2. The surface structure has been established using extensive NMR characterization ( 1H, 13C, 29Si, HETCOR, double-quantum, triple-quantum). Treatment with Zr(CH 2CMe 3) 4 leads to the first well-defined single-site bipodal grafted bis-neopentyl zirconium complex. © 2012 American Chemical Society.