Researchers from Institute of Chemistry,Institute of Organic Chemistry and Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics have synthesized a series of N-benzimidazolyl-substituted 2-alkyl-8-(benzimidazol-2-yl)quinolines (L1-L10) and 2-phenyl-8-(benzimidazol-2-yl)quinolines (L11-L14) and their respective bidentate iron(II) dichloride complexes (C1-C14).

The series of bidentate iron(II) complexes bearing 2-R1-8- (1-R2-benzimidazol-2-yl)quinolines has been found to give highly active catalysts for ethylene polymerizations upon activation with MAO at 100℃. The catalytic activities were achieved only at elevated reaction temperature. Two substituents of R1 and R2 showed different influences on the activities of the iron complexes; therefore fine-tuning the ligands would potentially control the catalytic activities of iron pro-catalysts and resultant polyethylenes.

The work has received support from the National High-tech R&D Program of China (863 Program). The findings have been published in Organometallics  (Organometallics 2011, 30, 3658–3665).

Organometallics Paper