Ni(II) and Pd(II) complexes bearing benzocyclohexane–ketoarylimine for copolymerization of norbornene with 5‐norbornene‐2‐carboxylic ester

A serial of late transition metal complexes, which bearing Benzocyclohexane–ketoarylimine ligand and named as Mt(benzocyclohexane–ketoarylimino)2 {Mt(bchkai)2: Mt=Ni or Pd; bchkai=C10H8(O)CN(Ar)CH3; Ar=naphthyl or fluoryl}, have been synthesized and characterized. The molecular structures of the ligands and nickel complex have been confirmed by X-ray single-crystal analyses. The nickel complexes exhibited very high activity up to 2.7 × 105 gpolymer/molNi·h and palladium complexes showed high activity up to 2.3 × 105 gpolymer/molPd·h for norbornene (NB) homo-polymerization with tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane as cocatalyst. The four complexes were effective for copolymerization of NB and 5-norbornene-2-carboxylic acid methyl ester (NB-COOCH3) in relatively high activities (0.1–2.4 × 105 gpolymer/molMt·h) and produced the addition-type copolymers with relatively high molecular weights (0.5 × 105–1.2 × 105 g/mol) as well as narrow molecular weight distributions (PDI 400°C) and showed good solubility in common organic solvents. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012