Synthesis and characterization of titanium complexes bearing sulfoxide groups and their catalytic behaviors in ethylene homo- and copolymerization

Titanium complexes derived from 2,4-di-tert-butyl-6-((2-(arylsulfinyl)phenylimino)methyl)phenol are designed and synthesized. X-ray diffraction studies reveal that the complexes adopt distorted octahedral geometry with O(phenol), N(imine), and O(sulfoxide) coordinated with titanium. Combined with modified methylaluminoxane(MMAO), the complexes exhibit moderate to high activity to afford polyethylene even at 120 °C under 1 atm ethylene pressure. The complexes also show excellent capability in copolymerization of ethylene with either 1-hexene or norbornene. Results indicate that the introduction of sulfoxide groups could open the space around central metal and favors the insertion of bulky comonomers.

Titanium complexes derived from 2,4-di-tert-butyl-6-（（2-（arylsulfinyl）phenylimino）methyl）phenol are designed and synthe- sized. X-ray diffraction studies reveal that the complexes adopt distorted octahedral geometry with O（phenol）, N（imine）, and O（sulfoxide） coordinated with titanium. Combined with modified methylaluminoxane（MMAO）, the complexes exhibit moderate to high activity to afford polyethylene even at 120 ℃ under 1 atm ethylene pressure. The complexes also show excellent capability in copolymerization of ethylene with either 1-hexene or norbornene. Results indicate that the introduction of sulfoxide groups could open the space around central metal and favors the insertion of bulky comonomers.