The side-arm effect controlled stereodivergent polymerization of 1-butene

Abstract

Stereocontrolled synthesis of poly(1-butene) was established by the metallocene catalysts in the field of homogeneous catalysis. However, there are few reports on the efficient and controllable polymerization of 1-butene using non-metallocene catalysts possibly due to the limited strategy to generate stereospecific active species specifically for high-carbon α-olefins. In this study, a series of novel tridentate [O^-NX] titanium complexes were designed and used to synthesize poly(1-butene) materials in high activity (up to 3.41×10⁶ g·mol^-1·h^-1), ranging from atactic to isotactic (up to 91% mmmm). The physical properties of the obtained poly (1-butene) materials were highly correlated with their isotacticity, and high isotactic poly(1-butene) possessed good toughness.