Catalytic Olefin Polymerization is a Mature Field. Isn't it?

Abstract

In spite of the reputation to be a mature area, Ziegler‐Natta olefin polymerization continues to produce scientific and industrial breakthroughs at a surprising pace. The massive introduction of High Throughput Screening technologies has accelerated the innovation process even further. This Highlight aims at introducing the reader to a number of very recent publications in which novel metallocene and non‐metallocene (“post‐metallocene”) olefin polymerization catalysts, and new concepts of chain growth in insertion polymerization, are disclosed and elegantly and convincingly discussed.magnified image

Programmable Modulation of Co‐monomer Relative Reactivities for Living Coordination Polymerization through Reversible Chain Transfer between “Tight” and “Loose” Ion Pairs

“…The key values of yield (activity), M n , molar percentage of 1-hexene incorporation, Table 1: LCCTP data for the copolymerization of ethene (E) and 1-hexene (H) with the precatalyst 1. [9] Poly(E-co-H) Poly(E-co-H) samples 1,3,4,5,6, and 2 (from left to right) obtained by LCCTP according to Table 1. r H , and r H r E were all found to decrease in the predicted fashion with an increase in the population of the tight-ion-pair propagating species derived from 4 relative to that of the loose ion pair derived from 3.…”

High‐Throughput Screening in Olefin‐Polymerization Catalysis: From Serendipitous Discovery Towards Rational Understanding

“…[13] This belief began to form in the mid1980s, soon after the discovery of ansa-metallocenes. For the first time ever, the new catalysts provided the opportunity to correlate observed performances with the well-defined structures of molecular precursors.…”

Metallocenes

“…an elderly and somehow pathetic gentleman who refuses to admit that the object of his juvenile passion is now withered." (6) 3. Properties of Metallocenes 3.1.…”