We report a catalytic system that produces olefin block copolymers with alternating semicrystalline and amorphous segments, achieved by varying the ratio of alpha-olefin to ethylene in the two types of blocks. The system uses a chain shuttling agent to transfer growing chains between two distinct catalysts with different monomer selectivities in a single polymerization reactor. The block copolymers simultaneously have high melting temperatures and low glass transition temperatures, and therefore they maintain excellent elastomeric properties at high temperatures. Furthermore, the materials are effectively produced in economically favorable, continuous polymerization processes.

We have investigated the olefin polymerization mechanism of hafnium catalysts supported by a pyridyl-amide ligand with an ortho-metalated naphthyl group. Ethylene-alpha-olefin copolymers from these catalysts have broad molecular weight distributions that can be fit to a bimodal distribution. We propose a unique mechanism to explain this behavior involving monomer modification of the catalyst, which generates multiple catalyst species when multiple monomers are present. More specifically, we present evidence that the hafnium alkyl cation initially undergoes monomer insertion into the Hf-naphthyl bond, which permanently modifies the ligand to generate new highly active olefin polymerization catalysts. Under ethylene/octene copolymerization conditions, a plurality of new catalysts is formed in relative proportion to the respective monomer concentrations. Due to the asymmetry of the metal complex, two "ethylene-inserted" and eight "octene-inserted" isomers are possible, but it is a useful approximation to consider only one of each in the polymerization behavior. Consequently, gel permeation chromatography data for the polymers can be fit to a bimodal distribution having a continuous shift from a predominantly low molecular weight fraction to predominantly higher molecular weight fraction as [octene]/[ethylene] is increased. Theoretical calculations show that such insertions into the Hf-aryl bond have lower barriers than corresponding insertions into the Hf-alkyl bond. The driving forces for this insertion into the Hf-aryl bond include elimination of an eclipsing H-H interaction and formation of a stabilizing Hf-arene interaction. These new "monomer-inserted catalysts" have no beta-agostic interaction, very weak olefin binding, and olefin-insertion transition states which differ on the two sides by more than 4 kcal/mol. Thus, the barrier to site epimerization is very low and high polymerization rates are possible even when the chain wags prior to every insertion. Experimental evidence for aryl-insertion products is obtained from reactions of ethylene (13C2H4 NMR studies) or 4-methyl-1-pentene (4M1P) using relatively low monomer/catalyst ratios. Quantitative generation of monomer-inserted products is complicated by slow initiation kinetics followed by fast polymerization kinetics. However, NMR evidence for reaction with 13C2H4 was observed in situ at low temperature, and the attachment of monomer to ligand was confirmed by GC/MS and 13C NMR after quenching. Furthermore, a 4M1P-appended ligand was isolated from a polymerization reaction (50:1 monomer:catalyst) by column chromatography followed by multiple recrystallizations. One isomer was characterized by X-ray crystallography, which unequivocally shows a 4-methylpentyl substituent at the 2-position of the naphthyl, consistent with 1,2-insertion into the Hf-aryl bond. NMR suggests a second diastereomer (not isolated) is formed from a 1,2-insertion of opposite stereoselectivity.

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A kinetic model was derived to investigate the effects of reversibility in chain transfer to metal in olefin polymerization. The model predicts both number- and weight-average molecular weights, M n and M w, as a function of several reactor input variables including the constants for chain transfer and reversible transfer. A number of interesting and nonobvious insights into molecular weight distributions are gained from these simulations. The most revealing result is the variation of the molecular weight distribution (M w/M n) with conversion. In the absence of reversible transfer, the M w/M n is always greater than or equal to 2. Regardless of the magnitude of the reversible transfer constant, M w/M n approaches 2 as M n approaches its maximum value. More dramatic deviations from M w/M n = 2 are observed for higher chain transfer constants. Polymerization data from two bis(phenoxyimine)zirconium catalyst systems are presented to demonstrate these effects. These results indicate that singular polymerizations should not be used to explore for reversible transfer characteristics, but rather a series of polymerizations should be conducted over a range of polymer conversions.

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