Synthesis and reactivity of nickel-hydride amino-bis-phosphinimine complexes.

Cationic hydride complexes [R-N(1,2-CH(2)CH(2)N=PPh(3))(2)NiH][PF(6)] (R = H, Me) are prepared and shown to react with ethylene to produce NiEt complexes and with LiHBEt(3) in bromobenzene to produce NiPh complexes. These species are also thermolysed at 80 °C to orthometallate one of the phenyl groups of the N=PPh(3) substituents.

Thio-Pybox and Thio-Phebox complexes of chromium, iron, cobalt and nickel and their application in ethylene and butadiene polymerisation catalysis.

A series of bis(thiazolinyl)- and bis(thiazolyl)pyridine Thio-Pybox ligands and their metal complexes of chromium(III), iron(II), cobalt(II) and nickel(II) has been prepared, as well as a nickel(II) complex containing a monoanionic bis(thiazolinyl)phenyl Thio-Phebox ligand. These new metal complexes have been characterised and used as catalysts, in combination with the co-catalyst MAO, for the polymerisation of ethylene and for the polymerisation of butadiene. In the case of ethylene polymerisation, the Thio-Pybox and Thio-Phebox metal complexes have shown relatively low polymerisation activities, much lower compared to the related bis(imino)pyridine complexes of the same metals.

Oxidative addition of aryl halides: routes to mono- and dimetallic nickel amino-bis-phosphinimine complexes.

Oxidative addition of an aryl-halide to Ni(COD)(2) in the presence of an equivalent of amino-bis-phosphinimine ligand affords complexes of the form [HN(CH(2)CH(2)N=PPh(3))(2)Ni-Ar][X] (Ar = C(6)H(4)F, C(6)H(5), X = Cl, Br) while the analogous reactions with 2 equivalents of Ni yield the amido-bridged complexes N(CH(2)CH(2)N=PPh(3))Ni(2)Br(3) and N(1,2-C(6)H(4)N=PPh(3))Ni(2)Br(3).

Mononuclear and dinuclear palladium and nickel complexes of phosphinimine-based tridentate ligands.

The tridentate bis-phosphinimine ligands O(1,2-C(6)H(4)N=PPh(3))(2)1, HN(1,2-C(2)H(4)N=PR(3))(2) (R = Ph 2, iPr 3), MeN(1,2-C(2)H(4)N=PPh(3))(2)4 and HN(1,2-C(6)H(4)N=PPh(3))(2)5 were prepared. Employing these ligands, monometallic Pd and Ni complexes O(1,2-C(6)H(4)N=PPh(3))(2)PdCl(2)6, RN(1,2-CH(2)CH(2)N=PPh(3))(2)PdCl][Cl] (R = H 7, Me 8), [HN(1,2-CH(2)CH(2)N=PiPr(3))(2)PdCl][Cl] 9, [MeN(1,2-CH(2)CH(2)N=PPh(3))(2)PdCl][PF(6)] 10, [HN(1,2-CH(2)CH(2)N=PPh(3))(2)NiCl(2)] 11, [HN(1,2-CH(2)CH(2)N=PR(3))(2)NiCl][X] (X = Cl, R = iPr 12, X = PF(6), R = Ph 13, iPr 14), and [HN(1,2-C(6)H(4)N=PPh(3))(2)Ni(MeCN)(2)][BF(4)]Cl 15 were prepared and characterized. While the ether-bis-phosphinimine ligand 1 acts in a bidentate fashion to Pd, the amine-bis-phosphinimine ligands 2-5 act in a tridentate fashion, yielding monometallic complexes of varying geometries.

The effect of the central donor in bis(benzimidazole)-based cobalt catalysts for the selective cis-1,4-polymerisation of butadiene.

A series of bis(benzimidazole)-based cobalt(II) dichloride complexes containing a range of different central donors has been synthesized and characterized. The nature of the central donor affects the binding of the ligand to the cobalt centre and determines the coordination geometry of the metal complexes. All complexes have been shown to catalyse the polymerization of butadiene, in combination with MAO as the co-catalyst, to give cis-1,4-polybutadiene with high selectivity.