TI COMPLEX CATALYSTS INCLUDING THIOBISPHENOXY GROUP AS A LIGAND FOR OLEFIN POLYMERIZATION

Titanium complexes were prepared by the reaction of 2,2'-thiobis(6-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol) (TBP) with TiCl4 or Ti(OPri)4. These complexes in combination with methyalumoxane as cocatalyst are highly active towards ethylene and propene, giving polymers having high molecular weights. The polymerization activities for ethylene and propene are comparable to those of Cp2ZrCl2-MAO catalyst. Polypropylene obtained had extremely high molecular-weight (Mw>6 million) and low regioregularity (30% of head-to-head and tail-to-tail linkages). Highly syndiotactic polystyrene was obtained with these catalysts with activity up to 27 kg polymer per g Ti and hour. Copolymerization of styrene with ethylene gave highly alternating copolymer with isotactic styrene units. These catalysts are also active toward both conjugated and nonconjugated dienes such as butadiene and 1,5-hexadiene. Polybutadiene had mainly cis-1,4-structure (98%). The structure of poly(1,5-hexadiene) is rather complicated, which is quite different from that prepared with heterogeneous TiCl3 catalysts.