Highly Active Binuclear Neutral Nickel(II) Catalysts Affording High Molecular Weight Polyethylene

Design and synthesis of binuclear vanadium catalysts for copolymerization of ethylene and polar monomers

Binuclear vanadium complexes exhibited higher activity than monometallic complexes in ethylene polymerization and afforded UHMWPE. The binuclear catalysts also showed moderate activity in copolymerization with 10-undecen-1-ol and methyl 10-undecenoate.

Ethylene polymerization catalyzed by dinickel complexes with a double-decker structure

Double-decker dinickel catalysts, even without any substituent on an ortho-position, afforded high molecular weight polyethylene with high crystallinity and less branching.

New sterically encumbered arylimido hexamolybdates for organic oxidation reactions

Surface modification of the parent hexamolybdate by aryl amines results in useful catalysts for the oxidation of cyclohexene to cyclohexene epoxide and benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde and benzoic acid.

Role of Radical Species in Salicylaldiminato Ni(II) Mediated Polymer Chain Growth: A Case Study for the Migratory Insertion Polymerization of Ethylene in the Presence of Methyl Methacrylate

To date, an inconclusive and partially contradictive picture exists on the behavior of neutral Ni(II) insertion polymerization catalysts toward methyl methacrylate (MMA). We shed light on this issue by a combination of comprehensive mechanistic NMR and EPR studies, isolation of a key Ni(I) intermediate, and pressure reactor studies with ethylene and MMA, followed by detailed polymer analysis. An interlocking mechanistic picture of an insertion and a free radical polymerization is revealed. Both polymerizations run simultaneously (25 bar ethylene, neat MMA, 70 °C); however, the chain growth cycles are independent of each other, and therefore exclusively a physical mixture of homo-PE and homo-PMMA is obtained. A Ni-C bond cleavage was excluded as a free radical source. Rather a homolytic P-C bond cleavage in the labile aryl phosphine ligand and the reaction of low-valent Ni(0/I) species with specific iodo substituted N^O (Ar-I) ligands were shown to initiate radical MMA polymerizations. Several reductive elimination decomposition pathways of catalyst precursor or active intermediates were shown to form low-valent Ni species. One of those pathways is a bimolecular reductive coupling via intermediate (N^O)Ni(I) formation. These intermediate Ni(I) species can be prevented from ultimate decomposition by capturing with organic radical sources, forming insertion polymerization active [(N^O)Ni(II)-R] species and prolonging the ethylene polymerization activity.

Synthesis, structures, and norbornene polymerization behavior of C(sp³), N-chelated palladacycles bearing o-aryloxide-N-heterocyclic carbene ligands

Treatment of the o-hydroxyaryl imidazolium pro-ligands (2-OH-3,5-tBu2C6H2)(R)(C3H3N2)(+)Br(-) [R = Mes (1a), Ph (1b), iPr (1c), Me (1d)] with Ag2O afforded the corresponding silver complexes 2a-d. Subsequent metal-exchange reactions of 2a-d with [Pd(OAc)(8-Me-quin-H)]2 (3) yielded the desired C(sp(3)), N-chelated and o-aryloxide-NHC-ligated palladacycle complexes 4a-d in 60-80% yields. When the N-tert-butyl substituted o-hydroxyaryl imidazolium pro-ligand 1e reacted with 3 in the presence of K2CO3 in dioxane, the palladacycle complex 4e, in which the NHC adopted an abnormal binding (C4-bonding), was obtained in 20% yield. All these complexes were fully characterized using (1)H and (13)C NMR spectra, high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), and elemental analysis. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis results further confirmed the molecular structures of 4a-c and the abnormal binding of NHC in 4e. With methylaluminoxane (MAO) as the cocatalyst these palladacycles showed excellent catalytic activities of up to 10(7) g of PNB (mol of Pd)(-1) h(-1) in the addition polymerization of norbornene.

From monomers to π stacks, from nonconductive to conductive: syntheses, characterization, and crystal structures of benzidine radical cations

Salts that contain radical cations of benzidine (BZ), 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB), 2,2',6,6'-tetraisopropylbenzidine (TPB), and 4,4'-terphenyldiamine (DATP) have been isolated with weakly coordinating anions [Al(OR(F))(4)](-) (OR(F) = OC(CF(3))(3)) or SbF(6)(-). They were prepared by reaction of the respective silver(I) salts with stoichiometric amounts of benzidine or its alkyl-substituted derivatives in CH(2)Cl(2). The salts were characterized by UV absorption and EPR spectroscopy as well as by their single-crystal X-ray structures. Variable-temperature UV/Vis absorption spectra of BZ(·)(+)[Al(OR(F))(4)](-) and TMB(·)(+)[Al(OR(F))(4)](-) in acetonitrile indicate an equilibrium between monomeric free radical cations and a radical-cation dimer. In contrast, the absorption spectrum of TPB(·)(+)SbF(6)(-) in acetonitrile indicates that the oxidation of TPB only resulted in a monomeric radical cation. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies show that in the solid state BZ and its methylation derivative (TMB) form radical-cation π dimers upon oxidation, whereas that modified with isopropyl groups (TPB) becomes a monomeric free radical cation. By increasing the chain length, π stacks of π dimers are obtained for the radical cation of DATP. The single-crystal conductivity measurements show that monomerized or π-dimerized radicals (BZ(·)(+), TMB(·)(+), and TPB(·)(+)) are nonconductive, whereas the π-stacked radical (DATP(·)(+)) is conductive. A conduction mechanism between chains through π stacks is proposed.

Dinickel Bisphenoxyiminato Complexes for the Polymerization of Ethylene and α-Olefins

Dinuclear nickelphenoxyiminato olefin polymerization catalysts based on rigid p-terphenyl frameworks are reported. Permethylation of the central arene of the terphenyl unit and oxygen substitution of the peripheral rings ortho to the aryl-aryl linkages blocks rotation around these linkages allowing atropisomers of the ligand to be isolated. The corresponding syn and anti dinickel complexes (25-s and 25-a) were synthesized and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction. These frameworks limit the relative movement of the metal centers restricting the metal-metal distance. Kinetics studies of isomerization of a ligand precursor (7-a) allowed the calculation of the activation parameters for the isomerization process (ΔH(‡) = 28.0 ± 0.4 kcal×mol(-1) and ΔS(‡) = -12.3 ± 0.4 cal×mol(-1)×K(-1)). The reported nickel complexes are active for ethylene polymerization [TOF up to 3700 (mol C(2)H(4))×(mol Ni)(-1)×h(-1)] and ethylene/α-olefin copolymerization. Only methyl branches are observed in the polymerization of ethylene, while α-olefins are incorporated without apparent chain walking. These catalysts are active in the presence of polar additives and in neat tetrahydrofuran. The syn and anti isomers differ in polymerization activity and polymer degree of branching and molecular weight. For comparison, a series of mononuclear nickel complexes (26, 27-s, 27-a, 28, 30) was prepared and studied. The effects of structure and catalyst nuclearity on reactivity are discussed.