Elucidation of solvent effects on the catalytic behaviors for [t-BuNSiMe2Flu]TiMe2 complex during ethylene/1-hexene copolymerization

In the present study, the solvent effects on the catalytic behaviors of [t-BuNSiMe2Flu]TiMe2 complex during ethylene/1-hexene (EH) copolymerization were investigated. Based on the study, it revealed that activities of polymerization strongly depended on the solvent medium used regarding to its dielectric constant value (ε). In fact, four solvent mediums such as heptane, chlorobenzene, toluene, and dichloromethane were selected. It was found that at 70 °C, the catalytic activity was the highest when toluene was employed during ethylene polymerization and EH copolymerization. However, with changing the polymerization temperature to 0 °C, the solvent effect was less pronounced and low activities were obtained. In order to give a better explanation, the contact ion-pair model was applied. The microstructure of polymer was further discussed in more details.