Towards designer polyolefins: highly tuneable olefin copolymerisation using a single permethylindenyl post-metallocene catalyst

Abstract

Using a highly active permethylindenyl-phenoxy (PHENI*) titanium catalyst, high to ultra-high molecular weight ethylene–linear-α-olefin (E/LAO) copolymers are prepared in high yields under mild conditions (2 bar, 30–90 °C). Controllable, efficient, and predictable comonomer enchainment provides access to a continuum of copolymer compositions and a vast range of material properties using a single monomer-agnostic catalyst. Multivariate statistical tools are employed that combine the tuneability of this system with the analytical and predictive power of data-derived models, this enables the targeting of polyolefins with designer properties directly through predictive alteration of reaction conditions.