Abstract
The recent discovery of the ability of salicylaldiminato Ni(II) complexes to promote styrene polymerization creates the potential for a new class of olefin polymerization catalysts. Styrene polymerization using (2Z,4E)-4-(methylimino)- pent-2-en-2-ol Ni (MPNi) catalyst has been studied using density functional theory at the B3LYP/6-31g (d,p) level. In particular, the reaction mechanisms have been investigated in detail. The results indicate that the reaction involves a four-membered cyclic transition state with a energy barrier of 21.63 kcal mol−1. In addition, the analysis indicates that strong π-interactions between styrene and Ni2+ are very important for the activation of styrene.
