Two new moisture- and air-stable bis(
-ketoamino)nickel(II) complexes Ni[R1C(O)CHC(NAr)R2]
2 (Ar
2,6-
iPr
2C
6H
3; R1 = R2 = CH
3,
1; R1 = C
6H
5, R2 = CH
3,
2), together withthe moderately stable complex Ni
2[CH
3C(O)CHC(O)CH
3]
4[H
2N
tBu]
2 (
3), which bears amonoanionic O,O-chelate bidentate
-diketone and an sp
3-N atom of
tBuNH
2 mixed ligands,were synthesized and characterized. The solid-state structures of the complexes have beendetermined by single-crystal X-ray diffractions. Additionally, these new complexes act ascatalyst precursors for methyl methacrylate polymerization after activation with methylaluminoxane (MAO). The polymers obtained by
1 and
2 show broader polydispersity thanthat obtained by
3.
13C NMR analyses indicate that these catalytic systems initiate MMApolymerization to yield PMMA with rich syndiotacticity microstructure.