ansa-Zirconocene Catalysts for Isotactic-Selective Propene Polymerization at High Temperature: A Long Story Finds a Happy Ending

Absolute rigidity is rare in the “soft” world of organometallics. Here we introduce two cyclopenta­[a]­triptycyl ansa-zirconocene catalysts for isotactic-selective propene polymerization, designed by means of an integrated high-throughput experimentation/quantitative structure–activity relationship modeling approach. An ultrarigid ligand precisely wrapped around the Zr center enforces an enzyme-like lock and key fit, effectively hampering undesired reactive events, even at high temperature. Stereodefective units are hardly detectable by 13C NMR in the polymer produced at 120 °C; this corresponds to an enantioselectivity exceeding 6–7 kcal/mol: i.e., less than 1 propene misinsertion every 4000 (and at room temperature, one every ∼40000!).