Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C08—ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON
  • C08F—MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS OBTAINED BY REACTIONS ONLY INVOLVING CARBON-TO-CARBON UNSATURATED BONDS
  • C08F10/00—Homopolymers and copolymers of unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons having only one carbon-to-carbon double bond
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C08—ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON
  • C08F—MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS OBTAINED BY REACTIONS ONLY INVOLVING CARBON-TO-CARBON UNSATURATED BONDS
  • C08F10/00—Homopolymers and copolymers of unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons having only one carbon-to-carbon double bond
  • C08F10/02—Ethene
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C08—ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON
  • C08F—MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS OBTAINED BY REACTIONS ONLY INVOLVING CARBON-TO-CARBON UNSATURATED BONDS
  • C08F210/00—Copolymers of unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons having only one carbon-to-carbon double bond
  • C08F210/02—Ethene
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C08—ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON
  • C08F—MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS OBTAINED BY REACTIONS ONLY INVOLVING CARBON-TO-CARBON UNSATURATED BONDS
  • C08F210/00—Copolymers of unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons having only one carbon-to-carbon double bond
  • C08F210/16—Copolymers of ethene with alpha-alkenes, e.g. EP rubbers
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C08—ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON
  • C08F—MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS OBTAINED BY REACTIONS ONLY INVOLVING CARBON-TO-CARBON UNSATURATED BONDS
  • C08F4/00—Polymerisation catalysts
  • C08F4/42—Metals; Metal hydrides; Metallo-organic compounds; Use thereof as catalyst precursors
  • C08F4/44—Metals; Metal hydrides; Metallo-organic compounds; Use thereof as catalyst precursors selected from light metals, zinc, cadmium, mercury, copper, silver, gold, boron, gallium, indium, thallium, rare earths or actinides
  • C08F4/60—Metals; Metal hydrides; Metallo-organic compounds; Use thereof as catalyst precursors selected from light metals, zinc, cadmium, mercury, copper, silver, gold, boron, gallium, indium, thallium, rare earths or actinides together with refractory metals, iron group metals, platinum group metals, manganese, rhenium technetium or compounds thereof
  • C08F4/62—Refractory metals or compounds thereof
  • C08F4/64—Titanium, zirconium, hafnium or compounds thereof
  • C08F4/659—Component covered by group C08F4/64 containing a transition metal-carbon bond
  • C08F4/65908—Component covered by group C08F4/64 containing a transition metal-carbon bond in combination with an ionising compound other than alumoxane, e.g. (C6F5)4B-X+
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C08—ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON
  • C08F—MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS OBTAINED BY REACTIONS ONLY INVOLVING CARBON-TO-CARBON UNSATURATED BONDS
  • C08F4/00—Polymerisation catalysts
  • C08F4/42—Metals; Metal hydrides; Metallo-organic compounds; Use thereof as catalyst precursors
  • C08F4/44—Metals; Metal hydrides; Metallo-organic compounds; Use thereof as catalyst precursors selected from light metals, zinc, cadmium, mercury, copper, silver, gold, boron, gallium, indium, thallium, rare earths or actinides
  • C08F4/60—Metals; Metal hydrides; Metallo-organic compounds; Use thereof as catalyst precursors selected from light metals, zinc, cadmium, mercury, copper, silver, gold, boron, gallium, indium, thallium, rare earths or actinides together with refractory metals, iron group metals, platinum group metals, manganese, rhenium technetium or compounds thereof
  • C08F4/62—Refractory metals or compounds thereof
  • C08F4/64—Titanium, zirconium, hafnium or compounds thereof
  • C08F4/659—Component covered by group C08F4/64 containing a transition metal-carbon bond
  • C08F4/6592—Component covered by group C08F4/64 containing a transition metal-carbon bond containing at least one cyclopentadienyl ring, condensed or not, e.g. an indenyl or a fluorenyl ring
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10S526/00—Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 series
  • Y10S526/943—Polymerization with metallocene catalysts

Definitions

• the present invention provides a method of olefin polymerization that allows for production of monomodal polyolefins of very narrow molecular weight polydispersity and of tunable composition and molecular weight.
• the olefin polymerization process is further defined as a 'living' polymerization that is mediated by an 'active' transition metal catalyst that serves as the propagating center for chain growth through monomer enchainment.
• a living polymerization is further defined as one in which there is a requisite limitation of one polymer chain per active propagation.
• the present invention removes this limitation by including additional equivalents of a main group metal alkyl that serve as additional 'surrogate' chain growth sites through highly efficient and reversible polymer chain-transfer between the active propagating transition metal center and the surrogate main group metal sites.
• This new polymerization process is uniquely defined as 'living coordinative chain- transfer polymerization' of olefins and it additionally allows for the first time, scalability of the volume of polyolefins that can be prepared through living polymerization with a dramatic reduction in the amount of transition metal catalyst that is required while not sacrificing all the desired beneficial features of the polymer that can be obtained through a living process, including tunable molecular weights, narrow polydispersities, ability to prepare block copolymers with discrete block junctions, random copolymers, and polyolefins with well-defined and discrete end-group functionalizations.
• transition-metal-based catalysts have been reported that can mediate the living metal-mediated coordination polymerization (also known as homogeneous, single-site Ziegler-Natta polymerization) of ethene, propene, higher ⁇ -olefins, and ⁇ ,co-nonconjugated dienes, and, in some cases, these proceed with a high degree of stereocontrol (tacticity) ((for a review of catalysts for living coordination polymerization of ethene and ⁇ -olefins, see: Coates, G. W., et al, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.
• the present invention provides a method of producing a polyolefin composition comprising contacting a metallocene pre-catalyst, a co-catalyst and a stoichiometric excess of a main group metal alkyl, adding a first olefin monomer; and polymerizing said first monomer for a time sufficient to form said polyolefin.
• a stoichiometric excess of a mixture of two or more different main group metal alkyls can be used in place of only one type of main group metal alkyl.
• This polymerization method allows for the use of minimum amounts of activating co-catalyst and metallocene pre-catalyst, and allows for the lower cost of production of large volumes of polyolefins, block copolymers and random copolymers that exhibit all features of having been prepared through a standard living coordination polymerization, including narrow polydispersities, tunable molecular weights, and the ability to incorporate end- group functionalization through termination of the polymerization with a terminating chemical reagent.
• FIG. 1 shows the reversible chain (P A and P B ) transfer between active transition metal propagating centers (M A ) and chain-growth inactive main group metal alkyl centers (M B ) of the present invention.
• FIG. 2 is a graphic illustration of the living coordinative chain transfer polymerization of propene.
• FIG. 3 is a partial 13 C ( 1 H) NMR spectrum for amorphous atactic polypropene prepared in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 4 is a graphic analysis of the kinetics of the polymerization of propene in chlorobenzene. Gel permeation chromatography results for aliquots removed every 30 minutes are presented.
• FIG. 5 is the differential scanning calorimetry analyses of amorphous atactic polypropene materials prepared in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 5 is the differential scanning calorimetry analyses of amorphous atactic polypropene materials prepared in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 6 shows dependence of observed M n and M n /M w (in parentheses) as a function of the inverse of total initiator concentration of metal species prepared in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 7 shows molecular weight distributions for amorphous atactic polypropene samples prepared in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 8 is a graphic analysis of the kinetics of the coordinative chain transfer polymerization of propene in toluene. Gel permeation chromatography results for aliquots removed every 30 minutes are presented. [0020] FIG.
• FIG. 10 is a partial 13 C ( 1 H) NMR spectra showing the Zn-C ⁇ region
• FIG. 11 is a graphical analysis of the kinetics of the living coordinative chain transfer polymerization of 1-hexene with ZnEt 2 .
• FIG. 12 is the 13 C NMR spectrum for poly(ethene- ⁇ >- 1-hexene) prepared in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 13 is the 13 C NMR spectrum for poly(ethene-co-m- poly(methylene-l,3-cyclopentane)) prepared in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 14 shows illustrative structures and resonance assignments of poly(ethene-co- 1-hexene), poly(ethene-co-l-octene) and poly(ethene-co-cw- poly(methylene-l,3-cyclopentane)) prepared in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
• Metallocene is used here to mean any organometallic coordination complex containing at least one or more ⁇ -bonded or ⁇ n -bonded ligands coordinated with a metal atom from Groups IHB to VIII or the Lanthanide series of the Periodic Table of the Elements.
• An example of a ⁇ -bonded or ⁇ n - bonded ligand is the cyclopentadienyl ring.
• the metal atoms are the metals of Group IVB such as titanium, zirconium or hafnium.
• a stereoregular macromolecule is understood to be a macromolecule that comprises substantially one species of stereorepeating unit. Examples include, but are not limited to, an isotactic macromolecule, a syndiotactic macromolecule, and an atactic macromolecule.
• a stereoblock macromolecule is understood to be a block macromolecule composed of at least one or more stereoregular, and possibly, non-stereoregular blocks. An example is isotactic- poly(propylene)- ⁇ /ocA:- ⁇ / ⁇ ct/c-poly(propylene).
• An atactic polymer is a regular polymer, the molecules of which have equal numbers of the possible configurational base units in a random sequence distribution.
• the polymer microstructure will contain stereocenters along the polymer backbone that have random relative configurations.
• An amorphous polymer is a polymer in which there is no long-range order amongst different polymer chains that would impart crystallinity to the material.
• polyolefin comprises olefin homopolymers, co-polymers and block copolymers.
• “Living polymerization” is used herein to mean a polymerization process with substantially no chain-growth stopping reactions, such as irreversible chain transfer and chain termination. Living polymerizations allow for control over molecular weights and provide narrow molecular weight distributions.
• “Dormant species” is used to mean a species that cannot actively engage in propagation through chain enchainment of the monomer until it is converted into an active species through a reversible chemical process, such as a polymer chain coordinated to a neutral metal center.
• Active species is used to mean a species that can engage in propagation through chain enchainment of the monomer, such as a polymer chain coordinated to a cationic metal center.
• “Surrogate species” is used to define a main group metal alkyl that cannot engage in direct propagation through chain- enchainment of monomer but that can engage in reversible polymer chain transfer with an active or dormant species with a rate of chain-transfer that is at least equal in magnitude to that of the rate of propagation but preferably several times faster.
• MWD molecular weight distribution
• M n number average molecular weight
• GPC gel permeation chromatography
• Polydispersity index is used herein as a measure of the MWD for a given polymer composition.
• a polydispersity index of one refers to a monodisperse composition.
• the polydispersity index is a ratio of weight average molecular weight (M w ) to number average molecular weight (M n ).
• M w weight average molecular weight
• M n number average molecular weight
• polymer compositions made according the present invention have low polydispersity index, for example, about 1.02-1.15. However, other embodiments of the present invention may have a low polydispersity index that is defined as being within the range of 1.01-1.2.
• a polydispersity index may also be within the range of 1.2-1.8 and still be classified as having been produced by the present invention if the rate of reversible chain-transfer between active and surrogate species is close in magnitude to the rate of propagation of the active species.
• Coordinative chain-transfer polymerization employs added equivalents of a metal alkyl that can serve in the capacity of "surrogate" metal chain-growth sites.
• CCTP employs highly efficient and reversible chain (polymeryl group, P A and P B ) transfer between active transition metal propagating centers (M A ) and chain-growth-inactive main group metal alkyl centers (M B ) that proceed according to Figure 1.
• D ⁇ 1 + (Jc x Jk*) (Muller, A.H.E., et al, Macromolecules 28:4326-4333 (1995)).
• the quantity of polymer product is clearly no longer capped by the amount of transition metal catalyst, but rather, on the total molar equivalents of the much less expensive and readily available main group metal alkyl (M B ) that is employed.
• CCTP has, until now, only been successfully demonstrated in non-living fashion for ethene polymerization and for the 'chain-shuttling' copolymerization of ethene and 1- octene employing two different single-site catalysts for the production of 'blocky' polyolefin copolymers ((for a recent review and references for CCTP of ethene using main group metal alkyls, see: Kempe, R., Chem. Eur. J. 13: 2764-2773 (2007); Pelletier, J. F., et al., Angew. Chem.
• Living coordinative chain transfer polymerization can be considered as degenerative chain-transfer coordination polymerization, which is mechanistically distinct from a living degenerative group transfer coordination polymerization process.
• the present invention provides a method of producing a polyolefin composition comprising contacting a metallocene pre-catalyst, a co-catalyst and a stoichiometric excess of a main group metal alkyl, adding a first olefin monomer; and polymerizing said first monomer for a time sufficient to form said polyolef ⁇ n.
• a stoichiometric excess of a mixture of two or more different main group metal alkyls can be used in place of only one type of main group metal alkyl.
• This polymerization method allows for the use of minimum amounts of activating co-catalyst and metallocene pre-catalyst, and allows for the lower cost of production of large volumes of polyolefins, block copolymers and random copolymers that exhibit all features of having been prepared through a standard living coordination polymerization, including narrow polydispersities, tunable molecular weights, and the ability to incorporate end- group functionalization through termination of the polymerization with a terminating chemical reagent.
• the present invention also provides a method of producing a block polyolefin composition.
• the method comprises contacting a metallocene pre- catalyst, a co-catalyst, and a stoichiometric excess of a metal alkyl in a solvent; adding a first olefin monomer; polymerizing said first monomer for a time sufficient to form a polyolefin; adding a second olefin monomer; and polymerizing said second olefin monomer to form said block polyolefin composition.
• Metallocene catalysts for use in the present invention include any metallocene pre-catalyst that initiates the polymerization of an olefin monomer. Specific examples include, but are not limited to single-site metallocene pre-catalyst such as those disclosed in Hlatky, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 7/7:2728-2729 (1989); K. C. Jayaratne, et a!., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 722:958-959 (2000); K. C. Jayaratne, et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 722:10490- 10491 (2000); R. J.
• metallocene pre-catalysts for use in the present invention include dialkyl metallocenes such as bis(cyclopentadienyl)titanium dimethyl, bis(cyclopentadienyl)titanium diphenyl, bis(cyclopentadienyl)zirconium dimethyl, bis(cyclopentadienyl)zirconium diphenyl, bis(cyclopentadienyl)hafnium methyl and diphenyl, bis(cyclopentadienyl)titanium di-neopentyl, bis(cyclopentadienyl)zirconium di-neopentyl, bis(cyclopentadienyl)titanium dibenzyl, bis(cyclopentadienyl)zirconiumdibenzyl, bis(cyclopentadienyl)vanadium dimethyl; the mono alkyl metallocenes such as bis(cyclopentadien
• the metallocene pre-catalyst for use in the present invention has the formula:
• M is Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb or Ta; each R 1 is independently hydrogen or alkyl or two adjacent R 1 form an aromatic ring; each R 2 , R 3 and R 4 is independently alkyl, cycloalkyl, Si(alkyl) 3 , Si(aryl) 3 , phenyl, optionally substituted phenyl, alkylphenyl; and each R 5 is halo, alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl, or arylalkyl.
• alkyl refers to straight- or branched-chain hydrocarbons having from 1 to 10 carbon atoms and more preferably 1 to 8 carbon atoms, including by way of example methyl, ethyl, propyl, /so-propyl, iso-butyl and /-butyl.
• Aryl by itself or as part of another group refers to monocyclic, bicyclic or tricyclic aromatic groups containing 6 to 14 carbon atoms in the ring position.
• Useful aryl groups include C 6 - H aryl, preferably C 6-IO aryl-
• Typical aryl groups include phenyl, naphthyl, indenyl, phenanthrenyl, anthracenyl, fluorenyl and biphenyl groups.
• Arylalkyl refers to an alkyl group mentioned above substituted by a single aryl group including, by way of example, benzyl, phenethyl and naphthylmethyl.
• Alkylarylalkyl refers to an alkyl group mentioned above substituted by a single aryl group, wherein the aryl group is further substituted by one or more alkyl groups. Examples include, without limitation, 4-methylbenzyl and 4-ethylphenethyl .
• Cycloalkyl refers to cyclic alkyl groups containing between 3 and 8 carbon atoms having a single cyclic ring including, by way of example, cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, cyclopentyl, cyclooctyl and the like.
• Optionally substituted phenyl refers to a phenyl ring which may contain 1 to 5 electron donating or electron withdrawing groups.
• electron-donating groups include, but are not limited to amino, hydroxy, alkoxy, amide, aryl and alkyl.
• electron withdrawing groups include, but are not limited to, halo, ketone, ester, -SO 3 H, aldehyde, carboxylic acid, cyano, nitro and ammonium.
• Alkylphenyl refers to an alkyl group mentioned above substituted by a single phenyl group including, by way of example, benzyl, 1 -phenethyl, 1-phenylpropyl, 1 -phenylbutyl, 2-phenethyl, 2-phenylpropyl, 2-phenylbutyl, 3-phenylpropyl and 3 -phenylbutyl.
• Halo refers to fluoro, chloro, bromo and iodo.
• Aromatic ring refers to an unsaturated carbocyclic group of 6 to 14 carbon atoms having a single ring (e.g., phenyl) or multiple condensed rings (e.g., naphthyl or anthryl).
• the metallocene catalysts of the present invention can be prepared using any suitable method known to one skilled in the relevant art. The method of synthesis of the metallocene catalysts is not critical to the invention.
• the co-catalyst is capable of activating the metallocene pre-catalyst.
• the co-catalyst is one of the following: (a) ionic salts of the general formula [A + ][ ⁇ BR 6 4 ], wherein A + is Si(R 7 ) 3 , a cationic Lewis acid or a cationic Br ⁇ nsted acid, B is the element boron, R 6 is phenyl or an optionally substituted phenyl or (b) a boron alkyl of the general formula BR 6 3 and each R 7 is independently selected from alkyl and optionally substituted phenyl.
• Lewis or Br ⁇ nsted acids that may be used in the practice of the invention include, but are not limited to tetra-w-butylammonium, triphenylcarbonium and dimethylanilinium cations.
• Examples of co-catalysts for use in the present invention include, but are not limited to, [PhNMe 2 H][B(C 6 Fs) 4 ], [Ph 3 C][B(C 6 Fs) 4 ], and B(C 6 Fs) 3 .
• the metal alkyl is capable of activating reversible chain transfer with active transition metal-based propagating centers.
• metal alkyls that may be used in the practice of this invention include main group metal alkyls such as Zn(R 8 ) 2 and A1(R 8 ) 3 , wherein R 8 is an alkyl. Mixtures comprised of two or more metal alkyls may also be used in the practice of this invention.
• metal alkyls for use in the present invention include
• the metal alkyl is ZnEt 2 . In another embodiment of the present invention, the metal alkyl is Zn(iso- propyl) 2 . In one embodiment of the present invention, a 1 : 1 mixture of AlEt 3 and ZnEt 2 is used.
• the method of the present invention comprises contacting a metallocene pre-catalyst, a co-catalyst, and a stoichiometric excess of a metal alkyl.
• "Stoichiometric excess” is used herein to mean an amount more than an equivalent amount of the metallocene pre-catalyst and/or the co-catalyst.
• the metal alkyl and metallocene pre-catalyst can be added together in a ratio of metal alkyl: metallocene pre-catalyst in the range of about 1.1 :1 to about 5000:1.
• the ratio is about 1.2:1, 1.5:1, 1.8:1, 2:1, 2.2:1, 2.5:1, 3:1, 4:1, 5:1, 10:1, 25:1, 50:1, 75:1, 100:1 or 200:1.
• the metallocene pre- catalyst and metal alkyl are added together in a ratio of metal alkyl metallocene pre-catalyst of 5:1, 10:1, 20:1, 50:1, 100:1 or 200:1.
• the method of the present invention comprises contacting a metallocene pre-catalyst, a co-catalyst, and a stoichiometric excess of a metal alkyl.
• the metallocene pre-catalyst and co-catalyst can be added together in a ratio of metallocene pre-catalyst:co-catalyst in the range of about 1 :1 to about 100:1.
• the ratio is about 1.2:1, 1.5:1, 1.8:1, 2:1, 2.2:1, 2.5:1, 3:1, 4:1, 5:1, 10:1, 25:1, 50:1, 75:1 or 90:1.
• the metallocene pre- catalyst and co-catalyst are added together with the metal alkyl in a ratio of metallocene pre-catalyst:co-catalyst in a ratio of 1:1.
• the metallocene pre- catalyst, co-catalyst, and metal alkyl are added together in ratio of metal alkyl metallocene pre-catalyst:co-catalyst of 5:1:1, 10:1 :1, 20:1:1, 50:1:1, 100:1:1 or 200:1:1.
• the pre-catalyst, co-catalyst, and metal alkyl can be contacted at the same time.
• the pre-catalyst and co-catalyst can be contacted to form a first catalyst composition which is then contacted with a metal alkyl.
• the pre-catalyst, co-catalyst, and metal alkyl can be contacted neat, or in some suitable solvent.
• suitable solvents for use in the present invention include inert liquid hydrocarbons that are nonreactive under the polymerization conditions employed. Although such an inert liquid hydrocarbon need not function as a solvent for the catalyst composition or the polymer obtained by the process, it usually serves as solvent for the monomers employed in the polymerization.
• inert liquid hydrocarbons suitable for this purpose include, but are not limited to, chlorobenzene, dichlorobenzene, isopentane, hexane, cyclohexane, heptane, benzene, toluene, trifluorotoluene, pentane, octane, isooctane, dichloromethane.
• the pre-catalyst, co-catalyst, and metal alkyl can be contacted at any temperature, preferably, the temperature results in the formation of an active catalyst composition for olefin polymerizations.
• the temperature of the activation reaction is from about -25 0 C to about 40 0 C or from about -10 0 C to about 80 0 C.
• the pre-catalyst, co-catalyst, and metal alkyl can be contacted for any length of time, as long as the activation reaction results in an active catalyst composition for olefin polymerizations.
• the activation reaction can be performed for a time of about 1 minute to about 50 hours or about 30 minutes to about 5 hours.
• monomer may be added immediately following the contacting of the metal alkyl, metallocene pre-catalyst, and borate co-catalyst.
• Olefin monomers for use in the invention include, but are not limited to, ethene, propene, 1-butene, 1-pentene, 1-hexene, 1-heptene, 1-octene, styrene, alpha-methyl styrene, butadiene, isoprene, acrylonitrile, methyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, vinyl acetate, vinyl chloride, vinyl fluoride, vinylidene chloride, N-vinyl pyrrolidone, 3-methylbutene, 3-methyl-l- pentene, vinylcyclohexane, vinylcyclobutane, vinylcyclopentane, vinylcyclooctane, 1-decene, enantiomerically pure ⁇ -citronellene, 3,5,5-trimethyl-l-hexene, 4-methyl-l-pentene or cyclic olefins such as cyclobutene, cyclopentene or
• X CH 2 , CO 5 N(R 13 ), O or S; R 1 ⁇ R 12 and R 13 are each indepedently H, alkyl or phenyl; and n and m are each independently an integer from 0-5.
• Dienes include 1 ,4-pentadiene, 1 ,5-hexadiene, 5-vinyl-2-norbornene,
• the first olefin monomer is propene.
• the time required for forming the polyolefin varies depending on the olefin monomer, temperature of reaction, reactant cocentrations, and other conditions, and can be for any length of time, as long as a polymer is formed.
• the polymerization of the first olefin can be performed for a time of about 1 minute to about 50 hours or about 30 minutes to about 5 hours.
• the second olefin monomer can be any polymerizable olefin or diene and it can be added at the same time as the first monomer in which case a random polyolefin copolymer will be obtained. Alternatively, the second olefin can be added after sufficient time for the first monomer to be polymerized in which case a block polyolefin copolymer will be obtained.
• the ratio of first monomer to second monomer can be, but is not limited to, the range of 1:100 to 100:1. In one example, the first olefin is ethene and the second olefin is 1 -octene.
• polymerization methods of the present invention are flexible and allow for the manufacture of polyolefin compositions having various molecular weights.
• polyolefin compositions of the present invention have number average molecular weight (M n ) greater that about 1,000. More particularly, the polyolefin compositions have number average molecular weight of about 1,000 to about 111,000.
• M n number average molecular weight
• Methods of determining number average molecular weight of polyolefin compositions are well known to one of ordinary skill in the art. For example, gel permeation chromatography (GPC) may be used.
• Polymer compositions made according to the present invention have low polydispersity index, for example, about 1.02-1.15. However, other embodiments of the present invention may have a low polydispersity index that is defined as being within the range of 1.01-1.2. A polydispersity index may also be within the range of 1.2-1.8 and still be classified as having been produced by the present invention if the rate of reversible chain-transfer between active and surrogate species is close in magnitude to the rate of propagation of the active species.
• Example 2 except 100 mL of chlorobenzene was used and the reaction time was prolonged to 15 hours. At the end of polymerization, the reaction mixture gelled and the stirring stopped. At this time, 400 mL of toluene was added to dissolve the polypropene before precipitation into 3 L of acidic methanol. Yield: 8.22 g.
• FIG. 6 shows a plot of observed M n v 1/[Hf + Zn]o. This plot reveals a strictly linear relationship, which is coupled with constant yield and extremely narrow polydispersities of all the isolated amorphous atactic polypropene products (Table 1). This provides strong evidence that highly efficient living CCTP is being maintained without affecting the overall activity, rate of chain transfer, or chain termination
• the highly linear relationship between M n v time, as well as the narrow polydispersity index values confirm the linear nature of the polymerization process.
• CCTP of ethene using Zn(/.ro-propyi) 2 appeared to proceed with only a slightly lower activity under identical conditions (see runs 2 and 6 of Table 2).
• 1 H and 13 C NMR spectroscopy were used to quantify the nature of the end-groups and M n values after standard work-up and isolation of the polyethene products, and the 13 C NMR spectra for runs 5 and 6 revealed highly linear polyethene structures with well-defined end-groups, the latter showing no evidence for chain-termination by ⁇ -hydrogen transfer.
• CCTP using 50 equiv of Zn(/sO-propyl) 2 distinctly possesses one wo-propyl end group and one non-branched end group.
• the 13 C NMR spectra presented in Figure 10 for an NMR-scale CCTP polymerization of ethene verifies that both of the wo-propyl groups in Zn(/s ⁇ -propyl) 2 rapidly engage in chain- growth of polyethene via the mechanism of Figure 1.
• Figure 9 also shows that the t p -normalized M n values for the isolated polyethene materials from runs 1 - 5 are proportional to 1/([Ib] 0 + 2[ZnEt 2 J 0 ) as expected for non-terminating CCTP according to Figure 1.
• Figure 1 1 presents a kinetic analysis for CCTP of 1-hexene with ZnEt 2 that displays a linear relationship between monomer conversion and time, and this correlation, along with end-group analysis by NMR spectroscopy, unequivocally establish the living character of polymerization which represents CCTP for a higher ⁇ -olef ⁇ n other than propene.
• Figures 12 and 13 present structural analyses of the copolymers by

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