Ethylene polymerization with novel phenoxy-imine catalysts bearing 4-vinylphenyl group

Abstract

This contribution reports ethylene polymerization behavior of titanium complexes incorporating bis(phenoxyimine) ligands. Six phenoxy-imine Ti(IV) complexes {6-R1-2-[CH=N(2,6-difluoro-3,5-diR2-4-R3Ph)]C6H3O}2TiCl2 (1: R1 = H, R2 = H, R3 = H; 2: R1 = H, R2 = H, R3 = 4-vinylphenyl; 3: R1 = CH3, R2 = H, R3 = H; 4: R1 = CH3, R2 = H, R3 = 4-vinylphenyl; 5: R1 = CH3, R2 = F, R3 = H; 6: R1 = CH3, R2 = F, R3 = 4-vinylphenyl) have been synthesized and evaluated for ethylene polymerization using dried MAO (simplified as DMAO) as cocatalyst. An obvious catalytic heterogeneity of Cat 2 (Complex 2/DMAO) towards ethylene polymerization was observed, which was illustrated by decreased activity, multimodal molecular weight distribution and partially improved particle morphology comparing with Cat 1. Moreover, Cat 3 exhibits “living” characteristics in the process under certain conditions (25 °C, less than 20 min). Otherwise, the moderate to high ethylene polymerization activity of ca. 105–106 g PE/(mol Ti·h) and high molecular weight (Mw = 105–106) of polyethylene can be obtained by changing the skeleton structure of these complexes.