The microstructure of propene/1‐pentene copolymers prepared with the metallocene catalysts rac‐Et(Ind)2ZrCl2 and rac‐Me2Si(2‐MeBenz‐[e]Ind)2ZrCl2 was studied by 13C NMR spectroscopy. Both catalysts lead to the formation of random copolymers although rac‐Me2Si(2‐MeBenz‐[e]Ind)2ZrCl2 favors a somewhat higher incorporation of 1‐pentene than rac‐Et(Ind)2ZrCl2. Surprisingly, the presence of 1‐pentene has a significant influence on the stereoregularity of the copolymers formed with rac‐Me2Si(2‐MeBenz‐[e]Ind)2ZrCl2. Propene/1‐pentene copolymers produced with rac‐Et(Ind)2ZrCl2 retained the isotacticity of polypropene and featured only the stereoerror pentads mmmr, mmrr and mrrm typical for enantiomorphic site control. However, propene/1‐pentene copolymers obtained with rac‐Me2Si(2‐MeBenz‐[e]Ind)2ZrCl2 are characterized by a gradual loss of tacticity which is concurrent with an increase in the amount of all irregular pentads. It is proposed that the presence of 1‐pentene can lead to a reversible loss of stereocontrol over a whole sequence of inserted monomer units. Subsequently, more or less atactic blocks are formed besides isotactic blocks.Percentage of 1‐pentene in the copolymer as function of the feed composition for 1‐pentene/propene copolymers prepared with EI and MBI.magnified imagePercentage of 1‐pentene in the copolymer as function of the feed composition for 1‐pentene/propene copolymers prepared with EI and MBI.
Preliminary investigation on propylene copolymers with odd carbon number olefin are reviewed. Additional experimental data presents propylene copolymers with 1‐heptene and 1‐nonene having higher impact strength and lower tensile strength values than copolymers of propylene and 1‐pentene.Thermoanalysis shows that the melting temperatures of the different copolymers decreases with increasing comonomer content. Slight changes were observed between the different propylene/1‐heptene copolymer melting and propylene/1‐pentene while the 1‐nonene copolymers show broadening of the melting curves as the comonomer content increases. It was highlighted that the source of novelty for these polymers is the comonomer type and content.
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