Introduction of functional groups on polyethylene endows it with a higher surface property and thus various catalysts have been developed for the copolymerization of ethylene with polar vinyl monomers. Aside from vinyl monomers, however, other classes of polar monomers have not found application in the copolymerization with ethylene. Here, in this short review article, our latest studies on catalyst development aiming at the use of non-vinyl polar monomers and the properties of the resulting copolymers are summarized.
Keywords: copolymerization; ethylene; non-vinyl monomer; polar monomer; transition-metal catalyst.