Organo-Lewis acids of enhanced utility, uses thereof, and products based thereon

Abstract

The organo-Lewis acids are novel triarylboranes which are highly fluorinated. Triarylboranes of one such type contain at least one ring substituent other than fluorine. These organoboranes have a Lewis acid strength essentially equal to or greater than that of the corresponding organoborane in which the substituent is replaced by fluorine, or have greater solubility in organic solvents. Another type of new organoboranes have 1-3 perfluorinated fused ring groups and 2-0 perfluorophenyl groups. When used as a cocatalyst in the formation of novel catalytic complexes with d- or f-block metal compounds having at least one leaving group such as a methyl group, these triorganoboranes, because of their ligand abstracting properties, produce corresponding anions which are capable of only weakly, if at all, coordinating to the metal center, and thus do not interfere in various polymerization processes such as are described.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.