title: Neutral, single-component nickel (II) polyolefin catalysts that tolerate heteroatoms
abstract: More than half of the 170 million metric tons of polymers produced each year are polyolefins. Current technology uses highly active cationic catalysts, which suffer from an inability to tolerate heteroatoms such as oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur. These systems require scrupulously clean starting materials and activating cocatalysts. A family of catalysts has been developed whose members are tolerant of both heteroatoms and less pure starting materials. These heteroatom-tolerant neutral late transition metal complexes are in fact highly active systems that produce high-molecular-weight polyethylene, polymerize functionalized olefins, and require no cocatalyst.
authors.affiliation: Arnold and Mabel Beckman Laboratories for Chemical Synthesis, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Younkin
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Connor
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Friedrich
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Grubbs
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Bansleben