Supported permethylindenyl titanium catalysts for the synthesis of disentangled ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (disUHMWPE)

Abstract

Novel permethylindenyl-phenoxide (PHENI*) ansa-metallocene titanium complexes have been synthesised and immobilised on inorganic solid supports to afford highly effective catalysts for slurry-phase ethylene polymerisation. When supported on solid polymethylaluminoxane these complexes were both extremely active (up to 3.7 × 10⁶ g_PE mol_Ti⁻¹ h⁻¹ bar⁻¹) and produced substantially disentangled polyethylene with a weight-average molecular weight (M_w) of 3.4 MDa (disUHMWPE).