Nickel-Catalyzed Selective Incorporation of Isolated In-Chain Carbonyls into Ethylene/Carbon Monoxide Copolymer Using Metal Carbonyls as a Carbonyl Source

Abstract Non-alternating copolymers of ethylene and carbon monoxide were obtained by nickel-catalyzed polymerization of ethylene in the presence of Fe2(CO)9 as a carbon monoxide source. Higher selectivity to isolated ketone group than the previously reported nickel-catalyzed systems, while having a higher catalytic activity than the palladium catalysts in our previous report has been achieved. Furthermore, various P-stereogenic phosphine-phenolate ligands were developed to investigate the effect of ligand structure on the copolymerization. Finally, the degradability of the resulting polymer was evaluated.