3,4-Enhanced Polymerization of Isoprene Catalyzed by Side-Arm Tridentate Iminopyridine Iron Complex with High Activity: Optimization via Response Surface Methodology.

3,4-Enhanced polymerization of isoprene catalyzed by late transition metal with high activity remains one of the great challenges in synthetic rubber chemistry. Herein, a library of [N, N, X] tridentate iminopyridine iron chloride pre-catalysts () with the side arm were synthesized and confirmed by the element analysis and HRMS. All the iron compounds served as highly efficient pre-catalysts for 3,4-enhanced (up to 62%) isoprene polymerization when 500 equivalent MAOs were utilized as co-catalysts, delivering the corresponding high-performance polyisoprenes. Furthermore, optimization via single factor and response surface method, it was observed that the highest activity was obtained by complex with 4.0889 × 10 g·mol(Fe)·h under the following conditions: Al/Fe = 683; IP/Fe = 7095; t = 0.52 min.