Abstract A series of neutral nickel complexes featuring N-fluorinated phenyl salicylaldiminato chelate ligands was synthesized, and the novel molecular structure of complex C14 was further confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis. The neutral nickel complexes showed high activity up to 9.96× 10 5 g oligomers/(mol Ni· h) and high selectivity of C 6 in catalyzing ethylene oligomerization using methylaluminoxane (MAO) as ...