Influence of Ligand Backbone Structure and Connectivity on the Properties of Phosphine-Sulfonate Pd(II)/Ni(II) Catalysts

Zixia Wu; Changwen Hong; Hongxu Du; Wenmin Pang; Changle Chen

doi:10.3390/polym9050168

Influence of Ligand Backbone Structure and Connectivity on the Properties of Phosphine-Sulfonate Pd(II)/Ni(II) Catalysts

Polymers (Basel). 2017 May 9;9(5):168. doi: 10.3390/polym9050168.

Authors

Zixia Wu¹, Changwen Hong², Hongxu Du³, Wenmin Pang⁴, Changle Chen⁵

Affiliations

¹ Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. wuzixia1@mail.ustc.edu.cn.
² Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. Hongcw94@mail.ustc.edu.cn.
³ Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. duhx14@mail.ustc.edu.cn.
⁴ Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. pangwm@ustc.edu.cn.
⁵ Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. changle@ustc.edu.cn.

Abstract

Phosphine-sulfonate based palladium and nickel catalysts have been extensively studied in ethylene polymerization and copolymerization reactions. Previously, the majority of the research works focused on the modifications of the substituents on the phosphorous atom. In this contribution, we systematically demonstrated that the change of the ligand backbone from benzene to naphthalene could greatly improve the properties of this class of catalysts. In the palladium system, this change could increase catalyst stability and polyethylene molecular weights. In the nickel system, this change could dramatically increase the polyethylene molecular weights. Most interestingly, the change in the connectivity of phosphine and sulfonate moieties to the naphthalene backbone could also significantly influence the catalyst properties.

Keywords: copolymerization; nickel; olefin polymerization; palladium; phosphine-sulfonate.