Bis(imino)pyridines : Surprisingly reactive ligands and a gateway to new families of catalysts

1,10-Phenanthroline: a versatile building block for the construction of ligands for various purposes

The diiminepyridine ligand, made famous by Brookhart and Gibson a decade ago through its use in the first iron-containing olefin polymerization catalyst, also displays an amazing variety of ligand-centred reactions, including electron transfer, alkylation, dimerization and deprotonation. The present Perspective summarizes these reactions and also speculates on the links between ligand- and metal-centred reactivity.

Ligand-centred reactivity in diiminepyridine complexes.

Iron(II) and Cobalt(II) 2-(Benzimidazolyl)-6-(1-(arylimino)ethyl)pyridyl Complexes as Catalysts for Ethylene Oligomerization and Polymerization

Recent progress in the use of iron-based complex pre-catalysts for ethylene reactivity is reviewed, illustrating the current state-of-the-art and the potential usefulness of such systems for delivering solely ethylene oligomerization or polymerization products. The problems associated with the industrial use of late transition metal complex pre-catalysts are generally regarded as catalyst deactivation and the formation of more products of lower molecular weight at elevated temperature. These problems have been addressed for iron-based complex pre-catalysts via the fine tuning of substituents of existing ligands and/or the design of new ligand sets. Results revealed that modified bis(imino)pyridyliron dichlorides were capable of operating at elevated temperatures, and were capable of delivering highly linear polyethylene. Other new models of iron complexes have achieved high activity for ethylene oligomerization and/or polymerization. Particularly successful has been the use of the 2-iminophenanthrolyliron pre-catalyst, which have now been utilized in a 500 tonne pilot plant.

Katrin Wedeking and

Papers

Iron complexes bearing 2-imino-1,10-phenanthrolinyl ligands as highly active catalysts for ethylene oligomerization