AbstractIn this work, previously undetected intermediates of several practically promising catalyst systems for ethylene polymerization and trimerization are discussed. In particular, the activation of ethylene polymerization catalysts (1) LNiCl2 (L = 2,4,6-trimethyl- (N-5,6,7-trihydroquinolin-8-ylidene)phenylamine) with AlEt2Cl and AlMe2Cl, (2) activation of bis(imino)pyridine vanadium(III) chloride L1VIIICl3 (L1 = 2,6-(ArN=CMe)2C5H3N, Ar = 2,6-iPr2C6H3; 2,6-Me2C6H3; 2,4,6-Me3C6H2; 3,5- F2C6H3) with AlMe3/[Ph3C]+[B(C6F5)]4¯ and MAO, and (3) selective ethylene trimerization catalyst (FI)TiCl3 (FI = phenoxyimine ligand with an additional aryl-OCH3 donor) with MAO have been assessed by NMR and EPR spectroscopy. The nature of ion-pair intermediates – the closest precursors of the propagating species – has been established, and the major catalyst deactivation pathways are discussed.
Correlating the Morphological Evolution of Individual Catalyst Particles to the Kinetic Behavior of Metallocene-Based Ethylene Polymerization Catalysts
