Nickel halide complexes bearing 2-benzimidazolyl-N-arylquinoline-8-carboxamide derived ligands: Synthesis, characterization and catalytic behavior towards ethylene oligomerization and the vinyl polymerization of norbornene

Nickel halide complexes of the type L2NiX2 (Ni1-Ni6, X = Cl; Ni7-Ni12, X = Br) bearing 2-benzimidazolyl-N-arylquinoline-8-carboxamide derived ligands have been synthesized and characterized by IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The molecular structures of the representative nickel complexes Ni8 and Ni11 revealed a distorted octahedral geometry at the nickel center. Upon activation with Et2AlCl, all such nickel pre-catalysts exhibited high activities for ethylene oligomerization. Furthermore, in the presence of MAO, they were shown to perform with good activities for the vinyl polymerization of norbornene. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.