A new non-metallocene early transition metal catalyst with phenol nitrone ligand for ethylene polymerization was designed and successfully synthesized by the reaction of phenol nitrone ligand with zirconium tetrachloride.Phenol nitrone ligand was obtained by the reaction of phenolic aldehyde with hydroxylamine.The structure of the catalyst and the phenol nitrone ligand were characterized by infrared spectrum (IR)

nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR)

elemental analysis and mass spectrometry (MS).The catalytic behavior of the catalyst for the ethylene homopolymerization has been investigated with methyl aluminoxane （MAO）as cocatalyst.The catalyst exhibits a high ethylene homopolymerization activity (＞106g/（molZr . h）) and good thermal stability.The catalytic activity of the catalyst increases with the increment of the temperature and keeps at 105 g/（molZr. h） even under 100℃.Besides

the molecular weight and the molecular weight distribution of the polyethylene were characterized by gel permeation chromatography (GPC).The molecular weight of the resulting polymers reaches 105

and the molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) is around 2.The thermal properties of the obtained polymers were also investigated with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)

the Tm of the polymer was around 132℃.Based on the above results

it can be concluded that the early transition metal catalyst with phenol nitrone ligand synthesized in this report is a single active site homogeneous catalyst with good thermal stability and high catalytic activity in ethylene polymerization.