Issue 43, 2021

Propylene homopolymerization and copolymerization with ethylene by acenaphthene-based α-diimine nickel complexes to access EPR-like elastomers

Abstract

Benefiting from the unique chain walking characteristic of late transition metal complexes, branched EPR-like elastomers bearing distinct differences compared to traditional linear EPRs are reported herein. Firstly, a series of acenaphthene-based α-diimine nickel complexes were prepared and thoroughly characterized. The single crystal structures of rac-Ni4 and rac-Ni5 were further determined by X-ray crystallography, in which intra-ligand π–π interactions could be clearly observed. Being activated by Et3Al2Cl3, rac-Ni1–Ni5 are able to promote propylene homopolymerization and copolymerization with ethylene with high catalytic activities, affording EPR-like products with unique branched structures and sequences. Through regulating polymerization parameters (temperature, monomer feeding ratio, etc.) and ligand structures that play a pivotal role in governing the chain walking abilities of the precatalyst, obviously different polymer products were obtained respectively from propylene homopolymerization and ethylene/propylene copolymerization. The former case afforded products with predominant P units, whereas the latter case gave rise to copolymers with predominant E units. Furthermore, dramatic changes in the P and E unit contents as well as their sequences were observed along with the variation in polymerization temperature.

Graphical abstract: Propylene homopolymerization and copolymerization with ethylene by acenaphthene-based α-diimine nickel complexes to access EPR-like elastomers

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 Jul 2021
Accepted
11 Oct 2021
First published
12 Oct 2021

Polym. Chem., 2021,12, 6307-6318

Propylene homopolymerization and copolymerization with ethylene by acenaphthene-based α-diimine nickel complexes to access EPR-like elastomers

B. Wang, H. Liu, C. Zhang, T. Tang and X. Zhang, Polym. Chem., 2021, 12, 6307 DOI: 10.1039/D1PY00923K

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