Asymmetric Cationic [P, O] Type Palladium Complexes in Olefin Homopolymerization and Copolymerization

Abstract Metal‐catalyzed ethylene homopolymerization and ethylene‐polar monomer copolymerization to produce new kinds of polyolefins with novel microstructures are of great interest. So far, there are some disadvantages for traditional transition metal catalyst systems. Therefore, it is critical to develop new catalysts or alternative strategies. In recent years, some cationic [P, O] palladium complexes have been demonstrated with the abilities to obtain oligomers and the high molecular weight polymers. Most importantly, these complexes showed high activity and generated polymers with specific microstructures when used for copolymerization of ethylene with industrially relevant polar monomers. This review summarizes several types of high performance cationic [P, O] palladium catalysts in ethylene oligomerization, ethylene homopolymerization and the copolymerization of ethylene with polar monomers. Specially, the regulation of steric and electronic effects at specific sites of the metal complexes was focused.