The application of novel dendritic nickel catalysts in the oligomerization of ethylene

Multinuclear nickel complexes were derived from generation1 (G1) and generation 2 (G2) dendrimeric salicylaldimine ligands based polypropyleneimine dendrimers of the type, DAB-(NH2)n (n = 4 or 8, DAB = diaminobutane). These novel dendritic complexes were evaluated as catalyst precursors in the oligomerization of ethylene, using EtAlCl2 as an activator. The oligomerization results show that there is a clear dendritic effect, in that both the catalyst activity as well as selectivity is impacted by the dendrimer generation. Thus for example the second generation dendritic complex shows higher activity than the corresponding first generation complex.