Group 4 metallocene dichlorides (Cp2MCl2) are important single-site initiators for industrial a-olefin polymerizations. However these compounds lack the ability to form the catalytically active species {[Cp2M-R]+[A]-} without the addition of activators such as methylaluminoxanes (MAO), borates {e.g. [B(C6F5)3]} and boranes {e.g. [Ph3C][B(C6F5)4]} in combination with organoaluminum co-activators such as trimethyl-, triethyl- and triisobutyl-aluminum. While the boron-based activators provide a discrete activation, the lower cost of MAO makes it a more economical choice but at the expense of fully understanding its activation mechanism. This subject has been of focus for multiple studies and has yielded several plausible activation mechanisms. With the combination of high-throughput (&lt; 1 gram) and bench scale (&lt;100 grams) studies, new insight has been gathered into improving the overall activation efficiency of these single-site initiators with MAO to allow the advancement of catalyst commercialization quicker than previously possible.

New insights into activating metallocene catalysts for olefin polymerization

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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