Vinyl polymerization of norbornene by mono‐ and trinuclear nickel complexes with indanimine ligands

Abstract

AbstractA series of new indanimine ligands [ArNCC2H3(CH3)C6H2(R)OH] (Ar = Ph, R = Me (1), R = H (2), and R = Cl (3); Ar = 2,6‐i‐Pr2C6H3, R = Me (4), R = H (5), and R = Cl (6)) were synthesized and characterized. Reaction of indanimines with Ni(OAc)2·4H2O results in the formation of the trinuclear hexa(indaniminato)tri (nickel(II)) complexes Ni3[ArN = CC2H3(CH3)C6H2(R)O]6 (Ar = Ph, R = Me (7), R = H (8), and R = Cl (9)) and the mononuclear bis(indaniminato)nickel (II) complexes Ni[ArNCC2H3(CH3)C6H2(R)O]2 (Ar = 2,6‐i‐Pr2C6H3, R = Me (10), R = H (11), and R = Cl (12)). All nickel complexes were characterized by their IR, NMR spectra, and elemental analyses. In addition, X‐ray structure analyses were performed for complexes 7, 10, 11, and 12. After being activated with methylaluminoxane (MAO), these nickel(II) complexes can polymerize norbornene to produce addition‐type polynorbornene (PNB) with high molecular weight Mv (106 g mol−1), highly catalytic activities up to 2.18 × 107 gPNB mol−1 Ni h−1. Catalytic activities and the molecular weight of PNB have been investigated for various reaction conditions. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 489–500, 2008