Ni(II)‐Catalyzed Nonalternating Carbonylative Polymerization Toward Branched Polyethylene Waxes

Abstract Polyethylene waxes serve as versatile additives with broad applications, yet their nondegradability poses environmental challenges after persistent use and the nonpolarity makes them inherently incompatible with polar materials. In this study, we present a series of degradable polyethylene waxes directly through Ni(II)‐catalyzed nonalternating terpolymerization of ethylene, propylene and CO. These catalysts exhibited moderate activities of ∼100 kg mol −1 h −1 , yielding the branched (26–74/1000 C) polyethylene waxes with ∼0.2 mol% in‐chain ketone groups. Moreover, the molecular weight and melting temperature of these terpolymers could be tuned in a broad range via propylene incorporation. Notably, the incorporation of in‐chain ketone groups not only overcomes the nonpolar limitation of conventional polyethylene wax, but also endows the resulting material with desired photodegradability.