Well-defined vanadium complexes as the catalysts for olefin polymerization

The design and synthesis of well-defined vanadium complexes as efficient catalysts for olefin polymerization remains an attractive project for organometallic and polymeric research. Recently, vanadium complexes with well-defined structures have been explored for olefin (co)polymerization by several groups around the world. This article summarizes our recent progress in well-defined vanadium complexes bearing a variety of chelating beta-enaminoketonato, salicylaldiminato, iminopyrrolide and tetradentate amine trihydroxy ligands, and their applications in ethylene polymerization, ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymerization and ethylene/cycloolefin copolymerization. The application of the optimized catalysts in the copolymerization of ethylene and polar monomer such as 3-huten-1-ol, 5-hexen-1-ol, 10-unclecen-1-ol and 5-norbornene-2-methanol is also discussed. Particular attention has been paid to the relationships between the catalytic behavior and the electronic and geometrical structure of the precatalyst. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved