Ethylene oligomerisation and polymerisation with nickel phosphanylenolates bearing electron-withdrawing substituents: Structure-reactivity relationships

Three SHOP-type catalysts, in which the C=C(O) double bond was substituted by electron-withdrawing substituents, [Ni{Ph2PC(R1)=C(R2)O}Ph(PPh3)] (2: R1,R2 = -C(Me)=NN(Ph)-; 3: R1 = CO2Et, R2 = Ph; 4: R1 = CO2Et, R2 = CF3), were assessed as ethylene-oligomerisation and -polymerisation catalysts and compared to Keim's complex, [Ni{Ph2PCH=C(Ph)O}Ph(PPh3)] (1). A rationale for the influence of the double-bond substituents of the P,O-chelate unit on the catalytic properties is proposed, on the basis of X-ray diffraction studies, spectroscopic data and DFT-B3 LYP calculations. Whatever their relative electron-withdrawing strength, the R1 and R2 substituents induce an increase in activity with respect to catalyst 1. For those systems in which the basicity of the oxygen atom is decreased relative to that of the phosphorus atom, the chain-propagation rate increases with respect to that for catalyst 1. Reduction of the basicity of the P relative to that of the O, however, induces higher chain-termination rates.