Highly Active New α-Diimine Nickel Catalyst for Polymerization of Ethylene

A new α-diimine ligand 1a, bis[N,N′-（4-tert-butyl-2,6-dimethylphenyl）imino]-2,3-butanediylidene and its corresponding Ni（II） complex 2a, {bis[N,N′-（4-tert-butyl-2,6-dimethylphenyl）imino]-2,3-butanediylidene}dibromo- nickel were successfully synthesized, and characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, Fourier transform infrared spectroscope（FTIR）, elemental analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS）. α-Diimine ligand 1b, bis[N,N′-（2,6- dimethylphenyl）imino]-2,3-butanediylidene and its corresponding Ni（II） complex 2b, {bis[N,N′-（2,6-dimethyl- phenyl）imino]-2,3-butanediylidene}dibromonickel were also synthesized and characterized for comparison. The pre-catalyst 2a with sterically bulky, electron-donating group tert-butyl, activated by diethylaluminum chloride （DEAC） and tested in the polymerization of ethylene, was very highly active[2.01×107 g PE/（mol Ni？h？0.1 MPa）] and led to a very highly branched polyethylene（ca. 35―103 branches/1000 C）. The state of the polyethylene obtained varied from plastic, elastomer polymers to the oil-like hyperbranched polymers.

Polymerization of methyl methacrylate catalyzed by mono-/bis-salicylaldiminato nickel(Ⅱ) complexes and methylaluminoxane

Two types of salicylaldiminato-based nickel complexes,mono-ligated Ni(II)complexes([O-C_(6)H_(4)-o-C(H)=N-Ar]Ni(PPh_(3))(Ph)(5),[O-(3,5-Br_(2))C_(6)H_(2)-o-C(H)=N-Ar]Ni(PPh_(3))(Ph)(6),[O-(3-t-Bu)C_(6)H_(3)-o-C(H)=N-Ar]Ni(PPh_(3))(Ph)(7))and bis-ligated Ni(II)complexes([O-(3,5-Br_(2))C_(6)H_(2)-o-C(H)=N-Ar]_(2)Ni(8),[O-(3,5-Br_(2))C_(6)H_(2)-o-C(H)=N-2-C_(6)H_(4)(PhO)]_(2)Ni(9),Ar=2,6-C_(6)H_(3)(i-Pr)_(2))were synthesized and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR),nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR),mass spectrography(MS)and elemental analysis(EA).In the presence of methylaluminoxane(MAO)as cocatalyst,all the nickel complexes exhibited high activities for the polymerization of methyl methacrylate(MMA)and syndiotactic-rich poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA)was obtained.The complexes with less bulky substituents on salicylaldiminato framework possessed higher activities,while with the same salicylaldiminato,the mono-ligated nickel complexes showed higher catalytic activity than bis-ligated ones.

Enhancement on Hemilabile Phosphine-Amide Palladium and Nickel Catalysts for Ethylene(Co)Polymerization with Polar Monomers Using a Cyclizing Strategy

To address the issue of hemilabile catalyst in olefin polymerization catalysis, a cyclizing strategy was used to construct novel N-bridged phosphine-carbonyl palladium and nickel catalysts, resulting in improvements on ethylene(co)polymerizations. The N-bridged phosphinecarbonyl Pd catalysts(Pd1-Pd5) and Ni catalysts(Ni1-Ni5) bearing five-to eight-membered-ring structures were designed and synthesized.Catalytic performance for ethylene(co)polymerization became better as the size of N-containing bridge increased. The seven-membered-ring bridged catalysts Pd4 and Ni4 exhibited the best performance in terms of catalytic activity, polymer molecular weight and incorporation of acrylates and acrylic acid. The better performance of these catalysts bearing larger-size bridges was tentatively attributed to the methyleneinduced higher electron density around nitrogen, which strenghtens the coordination of carbonyl group to metal center, and also to the steric effect offered by this cyclization. This work provides a new strategy to enhance hemilabile polymerization catalysts.