Zirconium-Allyl Complexes as Intermediates in Zirconocene-Catalyzed Olefin Polymerizations

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Hans-Herbert Brintzinger (†)
• Subject Area: Preparatory and Physical Chemistry of Polymers
• Term: from 2014 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 262319868

Main objectives of the proposed project are:1. clarification of the molecular structures of zirconium-allyl complexes, which participate in zirconocene-catalyzed olefin polymerization and of suitable model complexes;2. assessment of the rate and extent of zirconium-allyl complex formation in dependence of zirconocene ligand strucrures and of activation and polymerization conditions;3. elucidation of reaction paths which lead to the formation of zirconium-allyl complexes, to their isomerization, to further polymer-chain growth and to chain-growth termination.Insights thus obtained with regard to elementary catalysis processes are to be put in relation to phenomenological observations concerning e.g. polymerization kinetics, molar masses and microstructures of polymer products and alternative chain-end frequencies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Russia
• Partner Organisation: Russian Foundation for Basic Research
• Participating Person: Dr. Dmitrii Eduardovich Babushkin