Crystal Structure and Ethylene Oligomerization Catalytic Activity of {2-Carbethoxy-6-[1-[（2,6-diethylphenyl）imino]ethyl]pyridine}CoCl2

The unsymmetric precursor ethyl 6-acetylpyridine-2-carboxylate （4） was synthesized from 2,6-dimethylpyridine （1）. On the basis of this precursor, a new mono（imino）pyridine ligand （5） and the corresponding Co（Ⅱ） complex {2-carbethoxy-6-[1-[（2,6-diethylphenyl）imino]ethyl]pyridine}CoCl2 （6） were prepared. The crystal structure of complex indicates that the 2-carbethoxy-6-iminopyridine is coordinated to the cobalt as a tridentate ligand using [N, N, O] atoms, and the coordination geometry of the central cobalt is a distorted trigonal bipyramid, with the pyridyl nitrogen atom and the two chlorine atoms forming the equatorial plane. Being applied to the ethylene oligomedzation, this cobalt complex shows catalytic activity of 1.820× 10^4 g/mol-Cooh at 101325 Pa of ethylene at 15.5℃ for 1 h, when 1000 equiv, of methylaluminoxane （MAO） is employed as the cocatalyst.