Meso isomers of indenyl-based group IV hafnocene complexes produce atactic polypropylene (aPP) and thus, have to be tediously separated from their racemic analogs for the production of isotactic polypropylene (iPP). Herein, we report a facile activation protocol to selectively convert only the racemic precatalysts into catalytically active species when isomeric precatalyst mixtures are employed. At the same time, the mesoisomers are deactivated, thus yielding no polypropylene at all.

This work synthesizes a green-fluorescent conjugated polymer and performs basic photophysical characterization of this new material. Atums Green is synthesized by a Suzuki cross-coupling polymerization reaction between isostructural dibromo and diboronic acid monomers and is structurally characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance and gel permeation chromatography. The polymer consists of an alkoxy-substituted 1,4-bis((E)-styryl)benzene repeating unit with molecular weight up to Mn = 50 kDa relative to polystyrene.