POLYMERIZATION OF CARBON MONOXIDE AND ETHYLENE USING CATALYST CONTAINING NON-COORDINATING, NON-ACIDIC ANION
Carbon monoxide and ethylene are polymerized in the presence of a catalytically effective amount of a catalyst formed from a Group VIII metal source, such as palladium, a bidentate ligand containing a Group VA or VIA heteroatom, such as phosphorus, and an anion which is a non-coordinating, nonacidic tetrasubstituted anion containing a Group IIIA element, such as boron, with the anion preferably being either an unsubstituted or substituted boron tetraphenyl compound. The catalyst is advantageously formed by the exchange reaction of a ligand-conjugated Group VIII metal salt with a salt containing the non-coordinating, non-acidic tetrasubstituted anion containg the Group IIIA element in a solvent medium which causes the separation (due to differing solubilities) of the desired catalyst from the by-product of the reaction which comprises the anion from salt which was used as the Group VIII metal source and the cation from the salt used as the source of the noncoordinating, non-acidic tetrasubstituted anion containing the Group IIIA element. The resulting polyketone product has novel thermal stability characteristics.