title: Very large cooperative effects in heterobimetallic titanium-chromium catalysts for ethylene polymerization/copolymerization.
abstract: The heterobimetallic complexes, (η(5)-indenyl)[1-Me2Si((t)BuN)TiCl2]-3-CnH2n-[N,N-bis(2-(ethylthio)ethyl)amine]CrCl3 (n = 0, Ti-C0-Cr(SNS); n = 2, Ti-C2-Cr(SNS); n = 6, Ti-C6-Cr(SNS)), (η(5)-indenyl)[1-Me2Si((t)BuN)TiCl2]-3-C2H4-[N,N-bis((o-OMe-C6H4)2P)amine]CrCl3 (Ti-C2-Cr(PNP)), and (η(5)-indenyl)[1-Me2Si((t)BuN)TiCl2]-3-C2H4-[N,N-bis((diethylamine)ethyl)-amine]CrCl3 (Ti-C2-Cr(NNN)), are synthesized, fully characterized, and employed as olefin polymerization catalysts. With ethylene as the feed and MAO as cocatalyst/activator, SNS-based complexes Ti-C0-Cr(SNS), Ti-C2-Cr(SNS), and Ti-C6-Cr(SNS) afford linear low-density polyethylenes (LLDPEs) with exclusive n-butyl branches (6.8-25.8 branches/1000 C), while under identical polymerization conditions Ti-C2-Cr(PNP) and Ti-C2-Cr(NNN) produce polyethylenes with heterogeneous branching (C2, C4, and C≥6) or negligible branching, respectively. Under identical ethylene polymerization conditions, Ti-C0-Cr(SNS) produces polyethylenes with higher activity (4.5× and 6.1×, respectively), Mn (1.3× and 1.8×, respectively), and branch density (1.4× and 3.8×, respectively), than Ti-C2-Cr(SNS) and Ti-C6-Cr(SNS). Versus a CGC(Et)Ti + SNSCr tandem catalyst, Ti-C0-Cr(SNS) yields polyethylene with somewhat lower activity, but with 22.6× higher Mn and 4.0× greater branching density under identical conditions. In ethylene +1-pentene competition experiments, Ti-C0-Cr(SNS) yields 5.5% n-propyl branches and 94.5% n-butyl branches at [1-pentene] = 0.1 M, and the estimated effective local concentration of 1-hexene is ∼8.6 M. In contrast, the tandem CGC(Et)Ti + SNSCr system yields 91.0% n-propyl branches under identical reaction conditions. The homopolymerization and 1-pentene competition results argue that close Ti···Cr spatial proximity together with weak C-H···Ti and C-H···S interactions significantly influence relative 1-hexene enchainment and chain transfer rates, supported by DFT computation, and that such effects are conversion insensitive but cocatalyst and solvent sensitive.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University , Evanston, Illinois 60208-3113, United States.
authors.forename: Shaofeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Motta
authors.forename: Aidan R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Mouat
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Delferro
authors.forename: Tobin J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Marks
mesh_terms: D000475:Alkenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D002384:Catalysis; D002857:Chromium / Q000737:chemistry*; D005030:Ethylenes / Q000737:chemistry; D008024:Ligands; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009942:Organometallic Compounds / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D011095:Polyethylenes / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D058105:Polymerization; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000475:Alkenes; D005030:Ethylenes; D008024:Ligands; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D011095:Polyethylenes; D002857:Chromium; C036216:ethylene; C410454:1-pentene; D014025:Titanium