Several new nickel complexes are prepared by the treatment of the stabilized ylide benzoylmethylenetri(2-alkoxylphenyl)phosphorane with Ni(cod)(2) in the presence of PPh(3). X-Ray diffraction studies reveal that a distorted square planar geometry around Ni(II) is adopted. Upon treatment with Ni(cod)(2), the nickel complexes are sufficiently robust for ethylene polymerization. The existence of 2-alkoxyl-aryl substituents on phosphorus improves the catalytic activities. The highest activity (2.1 × 10(6) g mol(-1) h(-1)) is achieved when tri(2-isopropoxy-phenyl)phosphorane is employed (5e), which is one order higher than the corresponding SHOP catalyst. NMR analysis shows that the polyethylene mainly contains terminal double bonds and is highly linear.