Control of hydrolysis and condensation reactions of titanium tert-butoxide by chemical modification with catechol

Titanium tert-butoxide (Ti(OC(CH3)(3))(4); Ti((OBu)-Bu-t)(4)) was chemically modified with catechol (C6H4(OH)(2)) and hydrolysis and condensation behavior of a resultant modified alkoxide was studied. Spectroscopic results revealed that the reaction between titanium tert-butoxide and catechol resulted in the formation of catecholate groups (C6H4O22-) bound to titanium and corresponding release of tert-butanol. The mass spectrometry and cryoscopy indicated that main species was a dimer [(C6H4O2)(2)Ti-2((OBu)-Bu-t)(4)]. The hydrolysis of the modified alkoxide in the system with Ti:tetrahydrofuran (THF):H2O = 1:10:x (x = 0.5-10) resulted in the partial hydrolysis, and all the hydrolyzed products after the drying under reduced pressure were soluble in THF and chloroform.