New olefin polymerization and copolymerization catalysts. Effect of coordinating functionalities

Abstract

The coordination of the functionalities that may be present either in the monomer or in the growing polymer chain to the metal center is a key impediment in the development of new transition metal-based catalysts for the insertion polymerization of polar monomers. Several examples are discussed to illustrate this problem. Additionally, it is shown that the reduction of the electrophilicity of the metal center is one way to decrease this interaction.