Preparation and structure of an enantiomeric water-bridged dinuclear indium complex containing two homochiral N atoms and its performance as an initiator in polymerization of rac-lactide

A novel dinuclear indium complex (1) containing a sole water bridge was prepared from the reaction of InCl3 with an unsymmetric N2O2-ligand and the molecular structure of the complex 1 was determined. The X-ray crystallography data show that the dinuclear complex possesses two homochiral N atoms, namely, N(R)N(R) and N(S)N(S) enantiomers. Complex 1 was used as initiator for ring-opening polymerization of rac-lactide, giving heterotactic-rich polylactide (Pr = 0.63–0.69) with narrow polydispersities (1.13–1.31).