Innovation and development of late transition metal complex catalysts: New horizon of high-value-added polyethylene

Key Points

• The aim is to explore the design of transition metal complexes for catalyzing ethylene reactions to produce high-value polyethylene.
• Review of the development of late transition metal complex catalysts over the past thirty years.
• Analysis of the catalytic mechanisms of iron/cobalt and nickel complexes in ethylene reactions.
• Evaluation of product characteristics from different transition metal complexes.
• Iron/cobalt complexes produce highly linear products like alpha-olefins and high-density polyethylene.
• Nickel complexes yield highly branched products resulting in low-density polyethylene and polyethylene elastomers.
• The development of iron catalysts has achieved industrial breakthroughs, with a production capacity of 250,000 tons for alpha-olefins.