Theoretical Models of Ethylene Polymerization

Metallocenes, whether using a cocatalyst or not, act as catalysts in ethylene polymerization. The positive charge on the transition metal of a metallocene might have an important role in polymerization as an active site in our model approach. Using semiempirical calculations in the absence of cocatalyst, we show one of the possibilities that the positive charge on a metallocene might be more easily transferred through the Cp ring of a ligand to the ethylene than to transfer directly from the transition metal to the ethylene. In these calculations, the charge on titanium in an eight C2H4 system is transferred and a polymer chain is produced. This reaction takes place only when ethylenes are arranged in a particular direction with respect to the ring, but does not take place for ethylenes near Ti or Cl atoms. The same mechanism is shown for a metallocene ligand which is sterically hin-dered or where the Cp ring is replaced by fluorenyl. These results suggest an entirely new polymerization mech-anism in the absence of a cocatalyst in which the Cp ring is the active site