Highly active ethylene/hydroxyl comonomers copolymerization using metallocene catalysts

Ethylene was copolymerized with 10-undecen-1-ol and 5-hexen-1-ol using stereorigid [rac-ethylene(Ind)(2)ZrCl2], [rac-ethylene(H(4)Ind)(2)ZrCl2], and the new catalyst systems [rac-norbornane(Ind)(2)TiCl2] and [mesonorbornane(Ind)(2)TiCl2], activated with methylaluminoxane. The characterization of the copolymers by C-13 NMR spectroscopy revealed that the polymerization products were copolymers and that the conversion of the polar comonomer was strongly favored in the case of the zirconocene precursors. Very high catalytic activity values, nearly independent on the amount of comonomer in the feed, and comonomer incorporations up to 25.4%-weight have been found for 10-undencen-1-ol comonomer. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.