Synthesis of ethylene/propylene elastomers containing a terminal reactive group: The combination of metallocene catalysis and control chain transfer reaction

U. Kandil, T. C. Chung

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17 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article discusses a chemical route to prepare new ethylene/propylene copolymers (EP) containing a terminal reactive group, such as φ-CH 3 and OH. The chemistry involves metallocene-mediated ethylene/propylene copolymerization in the presence of a consecutive chain transfer agent - a mixture of hydrogen and styrene derivatives carrying a CH 3 (p-MS) or a silane-protected OH (St-OSi). The major challenge is to find suitable reaction conditions that can simultaneously carry out effective ethylene/propylene copolymerization and incorporation of the styrenic molecule (St-f) at the polymer chain end, in other words, altering the St-f incorporation mode from copolymerization to chain transfer. A systematic study was conducted to examine several metallocene catalyst systems and reaction conditions. Both [(C 5Me 4)SiMe 2N( tBu)]TiCl 2 and rac-Et(Ind) 2ZrCl 2, under certain H 2 pressures, were found to be suitable catalyst systems to perform the combined task. A broad range of St-f terminated EP copolymers (EP-t-p-MS and EP-t-St-OH), with various compositions and molecular weights, have been prepared with polymer molecular weight inversely proportional to the molar ratio of [St-f]/[monomer].

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1858-1872
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of Polymer Science, Part A: Polymer Chemistry
Volume43
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 2005

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Polymers and Plastics
  • Organic Chemistry
  • Materials Chemistry

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