Acetamidine complexes as catalysts for ethylene polymerization

Abstract

The reaction of (2,6-diisopropyl-phenyl)-acetimidoyl chloride or (2,6-dimethyl-phenyl)-acetimidoyl chloride with 2,6-dimethylaniline in the presence of triethylamine yields a mixture of isomers N′-(2,6-diisopropyl-phenyl)-N-[1-(2,6-diisopropyl-phenylimino)-ethyl]-N-(2,6-dimethyl)-acetamidine (1a) and N-(2,6-diisopropyl-phenyl)-N-[1-(2,6-diisopropyl-phenylimino)-ethyl]-N′-(2,6-dimethyl)-acetamidine (1b), and N,N′-bis-(2,6-dimethyl-phenyl)-N-[1-(2,6-dimethyl-phenylimino)ethyl)]-acetamidine (2), respectively. The addition of isomers (1a + 1b) to nickel (II) dibromide 2-methoxyethyl ether, (NiBr2[O(C2H4OMe)2]) gives a mixture of new nickel complexes, [NiBr2{N′-(2,6-diisopropyl-phenyl)-N-[1-(2,6-diisopropyl-phenylimino)-ethyl]-N-(2,6-dimethyl)-acetamidine}] (3a) and [NiBr2{N-(2,6-diisopropyl-phenyl)-N-[1-(2,6-diisopropyl-phenylimino)-ethyl]-N′-(2,6-dimethyl)-acetamidine}] (3b). Similarly, ligand 2 reacts with nickel (II) dibromide 2-methoxyethyl ether to afford the complex [NiBr2{N,Ń-bis-(2