The development of high-performance transition metal catalysts has long been a major driving force in academic and industrial polyolefin research. Late transition metal-based olefin polymerization catalysts possess many unique properties, such as the ability to generate variously branched polyolefins using only ethylene as the feedstock and the capability of incorporating polar functionalized comonomers without protecting agents. Here we report the synthesis and (co)polymerization studies of a simple but extremely versatile α-imino-ketone nickel system. This type of catalyst is easy to synthesize and modify, and it is thermally stable and highly active during ethylene polymerization without the addition of any cocatalysts. Despite the sterically open nature, these catalysts can generate branched Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight polyethylene and copolymerize ethylene with a series of polar comonomers. The versatility of this platform has been further demonstrated through the synthesis of a dinuclear nickel catalyst and the installation of an anchor for catalyst heterogenization.

中文翻译：

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一个简单而通用的镍平台，用于生成支链高分子量聚烯烃。

长期以来，高性能过渡金属催化剂的开发一直是学术和工业聚烯烃研究的主要动力。后期过渡金属基烯烃聚合催化剂具有许多独特的性能，例如仅使用乙烯作为原料即可生产各种支链聚烯烃的能力，以及无需保护剂即可掺入极性官能化共聚单体的能力。在这里，我们报告了一种简单但用途广泛的α-亚氨基酮镍体系的合成和（共）聚合研究。这种类型的催化剂易于合成和改性，并且在乙烯聚合过程中具有热稳定性和高活性，而无需添加任何助催化剂。尽管空间开放，这些催化剂可以生成支化的超高分子量聚乙烯，并使乙烯与一系列极性共聚单体共聚。该平台的多功能性已经通过合成双核镍催化剂和安装用于催化剂异质化的固定剂得到了进一步证明。