Combined polymerization catalysis of nickel complex and zirconocene for branched polyethylene

Abstract

AbstractThe polymerization behavior of 2-(2′-pyridyl) quinoxaline nickel dibromide/Cp2ZrCl2/MAO system was investigated in three ways: the Ni catalyst was added first, followed by addition of Zr catalyst (method I); the Ni and Zr catalysts were added simultaneously (method II); and the Zr catalyst was added first, followed by addition of Ni catalyst (method III). Results of GC-MS, GPC,13C NMR and DSC investigations indicated that the properties of resulting polyethylene were greatly varied by changing feeding orders of the two catalysts. Decreasing Ni/Zr molar ratio or increasing polymerization temperature gave corresponding polyethylenes with less branches and higher melting point. Compared to the procedure using Cp2ZrCl2 catalyst only, the activity of Zr catalyst in those combined system decreased because of the competition of ethylene between the [Ni−C] and [Zr−C] active centers. In addition, other zirconocenes were also employed as copolymerization catalysts in the combined system with nickel complex. compared to Cp2ZrCl2 case, the ethyl-bridged Zr catalyst performed better for polymerization of ethylene while the Si-bridged Zr catalyst showed better copolymerization ability.