Quantitative Comparative Kinetics of 1-Hexene Polymerization across Group IV Bis-Phenolate Catalysts

The kinetics of 1-hexene polymerization using a series of three Ti amine bis-phenolate catalysts, Ti[tBu-ONXO]Bn2 (X = THF (1), pyridine (2), NMe2 (3)), were investigated and compared to analogous Zr and Hf complexes. A model-based approach using a diverse set of data (including monomer consumption, molecular weight evolution, etc.) was employed to determine the reaction specific rate constants of the simplest mechanism. These catalysts exhibited similar mechanisms that include the elementary reaction steps of initiation, propagation via 1,2-insertion, misinsertion via 2,1-insertion, recovery from misinsertion by 1,2-insertion, and monomer independent chain transfer. Rate constants of the Ti catalysts are typically lower than those of the Hf and the Zr catalysts by 1 and 2 orders of magnitude, respectively. The percentage of regioerrors follows the trend of Ti u003e Hf u003e Zr for catalyst 1 while the trend of Ti u003e Zr u003e Hf occurs for catalysts 2 and 3. The ratio of the propagation rate to the termination rate at...