Recent developments in vanadium-catalyzed olefin coordination polymerization

Polyolefins account for two thirds by weight of the global synthetic polymers. There are more than 300 grades of commercial polyolefins, whose properties depend on their microstructures being varied according to the type of catalyst used in the production process and ultimately on the final method of manufacture. Despite having catalytic activities not higher than those of common catalysts, vanadium-based catalysts display several advantages, such as ethylene polymerization for ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, better copolymerization of alpha-olefins with ethylene which affords higher comonomer incorporation, producing good syndiotactic polypropylene, as well as producing synthetic rubbers by copolymerizing either ethylene-propylene or ethylene-propylene-diene. The latter materials, in particular, are known for their excellent applications with ozone, UV, heat and water-resistance, for the automotive industry and seal gaskets for shield tunnels and even in heat shielding materials for solid rocket motors. To tailor polyolefins in order to design their microstructures, there are more and more studies on post-metallocene vanadium(III-V) catalysts employing various N-, O-, N,O- and even P-ligands. Herein we summarize important developments of the vanadium complex catalysts within a decade.