Recent advances in nickel mediated copolymerization of olefin with polar monomers

• Advances in nickel catalyzed copolymerization of olefin with various polar monomers. • [N,N], [N,O], [P,O], and binuclear nickel catalyst for coordination copolymerization. • Correlation between catalyst structure and property in the presence of polar monomer. • Challenge and opportunity on nickel mediated copolymerization of olefin/polar monomer. The preparation of well-defined functionalized polyolefins via coordination-insertion polymerization method is a hot topic in polymer science. Late transition organometallic catalysts have attracted widespread attentions due to their application prospects in the synthesis of functionalized polyolefins by direct masking-reagent-free copolymerization of olefin with polar monomers. Numerous improvements in this field have been dominated by precious palladium catalysts, which have been reviewed thoroughly in the past years, while less-expensive and earth-abundant nickel catalysts that are closer to practical application have encountered stronger challenges in this regard because of the lower tolerance toward functional groups. However, with unremitting efforts nickel mediated copolymerization has witnessed rapid development in the past five years. This review thus summarizes the major progress in copolymerization of olefins with various polar monomers using state-of-the-art nickel catalysts bearing [N,N]-type ligands (such as α-diimine), [N,O]-type ligands (such as salicylaldimine and α-iminoketone), [P,O]-type ligands (such as phosphine-sulfonate, phosphine-phenolate, and bisphosphine-monoxide), binuclear ligands and other unclassified ligands, focusing on ligand modifications and catalyst designing strategies that enhance catalytic performance of copolymerization reactions.