The series of trichlorotitanium 2-(2-pyridinyliminomethyl)phenolates, [4,6-tBu(2)C(6)H(2)O-2-CH=NC(5)R(1-4)N] TiCl(3) (R(1-4) = H (1); R(1,3,4) = H, R(2) = Me (2); R(1,2,4) = H, R(3) = Me (3); R(2,4) = H, R(1,3) = Me (4); R(1,3) = H, R(2) = CF(3), R(4) = Cl (5)), were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and (1)H/(13)C NMR spectroscopy. The molecular structures of the representative complexes 2 and 4 were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and revealed distorted octahedral geometry at titanium. In the presence of MAO, all titanium pro-catalysts showed good activities for ethylene polymerization with good thermal stability at the optimum temperature of 50 degrees C. In comparison with the ethylene polymerization results, the activity observed for the co-polymerization of ethylene/1-hexene was far lower, but the polymers produced were of high molecular weight. For the co-polymerization of ethylene/1-octene, enhanced catalytic activity was observed, with 1-octene incorporation of up to 3.83 mol%. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.