Preparation of Half- and Post-Metallocene Hafnium Complexes with Tetrahydroquinoline and Tetrahydrophenanthroline Frameworks for Olefin Polymerization

oleh: Jun Won Baek, Su Jin Kwon, Hyun Ju Lee, Tae Jin Kim, Ji Yeon Ryu, Junseong Lee, Eun Ji Shin, Ki Soo Lee, Bun Yeoul Lee

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2019-06-01

Deskripsi

Hafnium complexes have drawn attention for their application as post-metallocene catalysts with unique performance in olefin polymerization. In this work, a series of half-metallocene HfMe<sub>2</sub> complexes, bearing a tetrahydroquinoline framework, as well as a series of [N<sup>amido</sup>,N,C<sup>aryl</sup>]HfMe<sub>2</sub>-type post-metallocene complexes, bearing a tetrahydrophenanthroline framework, were prepared; the structures of the prepared Hf complexes were unambiguously confirmed by X-ray crystallography. When the prepared complexes were reacted with anhydrous [(C<sub>18</sub>H<sub>37</sub>)<sub>2</sub>N(H)Me]<sup>+</sup>[B(C<sub>6</sub>F<sub>5</sub>)<sub>4</sub>]<sup>&#8722;</sup>, desired ion-pair complexes, in which (C<sub>18</sub>H<sub>37</sub>)<sub>2</sub>NMe coordinated to the Hf center, were cleanly afforded. The activated complexes generated from the half-metallocene complexes were inactive for the copolymerization of ethylene/propylene, while those generated from post-metallocene complexes were active. Complex bearing bulky isopropyl substituents (<b>12</b>) exhibited the highest activity. However, the activity was approximately half that of the prototype pyridylamido-Hf Dow catalyst. The comonomer incorporation capability was also inferior to that of the pyridylamido-Hf Dow catalyst. However, <b>12</b> performed well in the coordinative chain transfer polymerization performed in the presence of (octyl)<sub>2</sub>Zn, converting all the fed (octyl)<sub>2</sub>Zn to (polyolefinyl)<sub>2</sub>Zn with controlled lengths of the polyolefinyl chain.