Ethylene Polymerization by Thioether Bridged Dinuclear Titanocene Complex
The thioether bridged metallocene complex [(C5H5)Cl2TiC5H4CH2CH2]2S has been synthesized by treating the dilithium salts of the thioether bridged cyclopentadienyl ligand with two equivalents of C5H5TiCl3 and characterized by 1HMNR and elemental analysis. After activation with methylaluminoxane (MAO), the complex was highly active catalysts for homogeneous ethylene polymerization in toluene. The influence of the molar ratio [MAO]/[Cat], the catalyst concentration, time and temperature have been studied systematically. The catalytic activity of 1 is 3.63×105 g PE/mol•Cat•h. Rising the polymerization temperature decreases the catalytic activity for 1. A high concentration of the catalysts drops the catalytic activity as well as the molecular weight of polyethylene for the complex. High temperature gel permeation chromatography (HT-GPC) proves the production of polyethylene with a broad molecular weight distribution (MWD).