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SYNTHESIS OF CHROMIUM(III) CARBOXYLATE COMPLEXES
AND THEIR USE IN ZIEGLER-NATTA POLYMERIZATION
BY
MOUGANG DJANTENG SOUME BERLINE BEATRICE
IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE
ORGANOMETALLIC SYNTHESIS and POLYMER CHEMISTRY
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY, FACULTY OF SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
OCTOBER 2009

DEDICATION
This dissertation is dedicated to
my children
Soume Carat Serena and Soume Sean Eben
whose arrival gave me
motivation and determination in life
I am fortunate to have them
and
my husband
Soume Manasse
whose love, support and patience
helped me complete this work
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my supervisors, Prof. Dr. Rosiyah Yahya and Prof. Dr.
Gan Seng Neon for their important contributions, suggestions, guidance and
encouragement, and for providing me the opportunity to work on an interesting research
project. Working with them has been a wonderful, life-changing and rewarding
experience I will never forget.
I extend my deepest thanks and appreciation to Prof. Ward T. Robinson, who
gave me the opportunity to learn his approach to single crystal X-ray structure
determination, and the value of pursuing important questions, not just interesting ones.
Watching him, work with methodical rigor and unwavering integrity has been
inspirational. His guidance throughout the writing of this dissertation was invaluable. In
addition, he also provided me with kind and encouraging words when I experienced the
“research blues”. But most of all, I respect him for his humbleness despite all his
accomplishments.
I would also like to thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. Richard Wong Chee Seng for helping
to train me in dry box technique, and to solve the overheating problem I experienced
with polymerization reactions at the beginning of my research. I would like to thank
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Noel F. Thomas for his suggestions throughout the writing of my
dissertation. My appreciation also goes to Prof. Dr. Ng Seik Weng, for co-editing and
publishing my Acta crystallographica section “E” article. Thank you to Mr. Bakri b. Din
of the department of chemistry (UKM, Malaysia) for carried out CHN&S elemental
analyses.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the University of Malaya for
financial support through the University of Malaya Fellowship Scheme Award (2007 –
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2009), PPP grant N o PS078-2007C and PPP grant N o PS208-2008A. Thank you to the
department of chemistry for the facilities made available to me for carrying out this
research and to the Head of department for her support. My thanks are also due to the
staff, friends and colleagues of the polymer and material science laboratory, especially
Mr. Zulkiflee Hassan and Ms. Ho Wei Leng for their warm friendship and technical
assistance; to Siti Murni for sending samples for the elemental analysis; to Masmira,
Asfarina and Ayu for training me to use the dynamic mechanical analysis instrument.
Thanks are also dedicated to Mr. Hashim Harun for help with glasswares, to Mr. Azizul
Isha and Ms. Norzalida Zakaria for their assistance in running NMR spectroscopy and
to Mr. Mohamed for his assistance in running magnetic susceptibility measurement.
I wish to thank my good friends, Mohammadreza Asgari, PhD student in the
faculty of business, University of Malaya, Chérubin Noumissing Sao, PhD student in
the Institute of Chemistry, Kassel University, Germany and Alain Bruno Fadjie, PhD
student in the Physics department, University of Rennes1, France; who advise,
encourage me and share their postgraduate experience with me.
Finally, but most importantly, my warmest thanks go to my family and extended
family, more precisely, my parents and siblings, for their continuous love,
encouragement and support during this work. I would like to thank the Nzegang family
members for their love and support during my teenage age. A special Thank goes to the
Botchemie family members for taking care of my kids during my studies. My deepest
thanks go to my children who inspired me. Last but not least, to my husband, without
whom this work would have never reached completion.
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UNIVERSITI MALAYA
ORIGINAL LITERARY WORK DECLARATION
Name of Candidate: MOUGANG DJANTENG SOUME BERLINE BÉATRICE
I.C/Passport No: 775323 Registration/Matric No: SGR070038
Name of Degree: Master of Science
Title of Project Paper/Research Report/Dissertation/Thesis (“this Work”):
SYNTHESIS OF CHROMIUM(III) CARBOXYLATE COMPLEXES AND
THEIR USE IN ZIEGLER-NATTA POLYMERIZATION
Field of Study: ORGANOMETALLIC SYNTHESIS and POLYMER
CHEMISTRY
I do solemnly and sincerely declare that:
(1) I am the sole author/writer of this Work;
(2) This Work is original;
(3) Any use of any work in which copyright exists was done by way of fair dealing
and for permitted purposes and any excerpt or extract from, or reference to or
reproduction of any copyright work has been disclosed expressly and
sufficiently and the title of the Work and its authorship have been acknowledged
in this Work;
(4) I do not have any actual knowledge nor do I ought reasonably to know that the
making of this work constitutes an infringement of any copyright work;
(5) I hereby assign all and every rights in the copyright to this Work to the
University of Malaya (“UM”), who henceforth shall be owner of the copyright
in this Work and that any reproduction or use in any form or by any means
whatsoever is prohibited without the written consent of UM having been first
had and obtained;
(6) I am fully aware that if in the course of making this Work I have infringed any
copyright whether intentionally or otherwise, I may be subject to legal action or
any other action as may be determined by UM.
Candidate’s Signature
Date
Subscribed and solemnly declared before,
Witness’s Signature
Name: GAN SENG NEON
Designation: PROFESSOR
Date:
Witness’s Signature
Name: ROSIYAH YAHYA
Designation: PROFESSOR
Date:
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