The catalytic performance of rare-earth metal dialkyl complexes in combination with DMAO(dry methylaluminoxane)is explored.In the presence of 60 equivalents of DMAO,the half-sandwich complex(C13H8CH2Ph)Sc(CH2SiMe3)2(THF)(1)is inert for styrene polymerization,but(C5Me4Ph)Sc(CH2C6H4NMe2-o)2(2)converts 18%styrene into syndiotactic polystyrene.Under the same conditions,the constrained-geometry configuration sandium complex(C13H8CH2Py)Sc(CH2SiMe3)2(3a)displays extremely high catalytic activity(>6420 kg·molSC-1·h-1)and perfect syndiospecific(rrrr>99%)for styrene polymerization,while its lutetium(3b)and yttrium(3c)analogues are nearly inactive.Although the binary catalytic system 3a/DMAO exhibits very low activity for 4-methoxystyrene polymerization,it is an efficient catalyst for the syndioselective polymerization of other styrene derivatives such as 2-methoxystyrene,4-methylthiostyrene,4-fluorostyrene,4-dimethylhydrosilylstyrene,alkyne-susbstituted styrenes and 4-methylstyrene.In addition,the binary system 3a/DMAO can copolymerize ethylene and styrene to give alternating copolymers with a single glass transition at 80℃and 0.4 MPa ethylene pressures.By increasing styrene feed amount from 20 mmol to 60 mmol,the styrene content slight increases from 48.2 mol%to 53.8 mol%,but the polymerization activity is obviously promoted from 240 kg·molSc-1·h-1 to 532 kg·molSc-1·h-1.