A comparative study on the polymerization of 1-octene promoted by vanadium and titanium complexes supported by phenoxyimine and salen type ligands

Abstract

Polymerizations of 1-octene were carried out in the presence of vanadium and titanium complexes bearing salen-type or phenoxyimine ligands activated with various co-catalysts. Vanadium complexes turned out active only in conjunction with MAO, whereas the titanium ones were active in combination with Al(i-Bu)3/Ph3CB(C6F5)4. The activity of all catalysts was moderate or low and it was dependent on the ligand type: bis(phenoxyimine) complexes were more active than the salen ones. Both vanadium and titanium catalytic systems produced poly(1-octene)s possessing atactic structures with [mmmm] sequences in the range from 12 to 56 % at room temperature. A temperature decrease to 0.5 C for the reaction catalyzed by the vanadium catalyst led to poly(1-octene) of [mmmm] = 70 %. The 1H NMR analysis showed that unsaturated end groups were present in poly(1-octenes) which were introduced to the polymer chains as a results of various chain transfer reactions. In case of vanadium catalysts, vinylidene and vinylene end groups were present in polymer products. For titanium catalyst, vinyl and tri-substituted unsaturated groups were present in poly(1-octenes) in addition to the end groups as mentioned before. © 2013 The Author(s).