Isomerization in bent phosphametallocenes: Combining rotational barriers and the intramolecular slip-inversion-slip mechanism to control stereo-conformation

Four new phosphazirconocenes were prepared, and a crystal structure was obtained demonstrating unambiguously the meso configuration. Propylene polymerization was chosen to provide by inference insight into the phosphametallocene rotational dynamics. Phosphazirconocene 9 was found to produce isotactic and atactic polypropylene. A model based on computations is proposed.