Ethylene polymerization with homogeneous nickel–diimine catalysts: effects of catalyst structure and polymerization conditions on catalyst activity and polymer properties

Ethylene polymerization was carried out using three nickel α-diimine catalysts ((ArNC(An)–C(An)NAr)NiBr2 (1), (ArNC(CH3)–C(CH3)NAr)NiBr2 (2) and (ArNC(H)–C(H)NAr)NiBr2 (3); where An=acenaphthene and Ar=2,6-(i-Pr)2C6H3) activated with modified methylaluminoxane (MMAO) in a slurry semi-batch reactor. We investigated the effects of ethylene pressure, reaction temperature, and α-diimine backbone structure variation on the catalyst activity and …