Investigation of ethylene and styrene copolymerization initiated with dinuclear constrained geometry catalysts holding polymethylene as a bridging ligand and indenyl as a cyclopentadienyl derivative

A series of polymethylene‐bridged dinuclear constrained geometry catalysts (CGC) [Me₂Si(Ind)(N^tBu) TiCl₂]₂[(CH₂)_n] ( 1 , n = 6; 2 , n = 9; 3 , n = 12) were synthesized to study the copolymerization of ethylene and styrene. The experiments display that the polymerization activity of the dinuclear catalysts increased in the order of 1 < 2 < 3 , which indicated that the dinuclear CGC with the longest methylene units as a bridge showed the greatest activity. According to the activity correlation with the monomer ratio, all the catalysts exhibited maximum polymerization activity at the monomer ratio of ([styrene]/[ethylene]) of 2. The dinuclear CGC 2 and 3 represented excellent characteristics of styrene reactivity while catalyst 1 represented considerably low styrene reactivity. The relation between the molecular weights of the polymers and the catalysts used in the polymerization is not straightforward. The steric interference in catalyst 1 , containing just six methylene bridges, can be applied to explain not only the strikingly decreased activity but also the very low styrene content in the copolymer. In contrast, the electronic effect seems to be more pronounced in manipulating the polymerization properties of catalysts 2 and 3 having nine and 12 methylene bridges, respectively. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 2469–2474, 2003