High performance polyolefin materials are widely used in military, aerospace, medical and other high-end industries. In this report, a variety of high-end polyolefin materials are prepared with various late-transition-metal catalytic systems by only using ethylene as the feedstock. Late-transition-metal catalysts possess many unique and practical features, such as the ability to synthesize branched polyethylene using only ethylene as the feedstock and the ability to directly copolymerize ethylene with polar comonomers for the synthesis of polar functionalized polyolefins. Moreover, the molecular structure of catalyst has a decisive influence on polymerization activity and polymer microstructure. By modulating the structures of the late-transition-metal catalysts and the polymerization conditions, controlling the chain transfer and chain walking process in the ethylene polymerization, various high-performance polyolefin materials such as polyolefin thermoplastic elastomer, polyolefin synthetic lubricating oil and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) can be precisely synthesized by only using ethylene as the feedstock. Polar functionalized polyolefins can also be prepared directly with the aid of a small amount of polar monomers.

Precise synthesis of high performance polyolefin materials from only ethylene feedstock

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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