Homo-Polymerization of 1-Hexene Catalysed by O^N^N (Salicylaldimine)Iron(III) Pre-Catalysts to Branched Poly(1-hexene)

Five new iron(III) 1-hexene polymerisation catalysts were prepared from the reactions of 2,4-di-tert-butyl-6-(2-(1H-imidazol-4-yl)ethylimino)methylphenol (L1), or 4-tert-butyl-6-(2-(1H-imidazol-4-yl)ethylimino)methylphenol (L2) or 2,4-di-tert-butyl-6-[(2-pyridin-2-yl-ethylimino)-methyl-phenol (L3) with anhydrous iron(II) halides to form [FeCl2(L1)] (1), [FeBr2(L1)] (2), [FeI2(L1)] (3), [FeBr2(L2)] (4) and [FeCl2(L3)] (5). All the iron(III) complexes 1–5 were activated with EtAlCl2 to produce active catalysts for the polymerisation of 1-hexene to low molecular weight poly(1-hexene) (Mn = 1021–1084 Da) and very narrow polydispersity indices (1.19–1.24). 1H and 13C{1H} NMR analysis showed the polymers are branched with methyl, butyl and longer chain branches. The longer chain branches are dominant indicating that 2,1-insertion of monomer is favoured over 1,2-insertion in the polymerisation reaction.