Supported bis(peralkylindenyl)metallocene catalysts for slurry phase ethylene polymerisation

A series of bis(peralkylindenyl)zirconocene and hafnocene complexes were synthesised and characterised by NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and elemental analyses. 3-ethyl-2,4,5,6,7-pentamethylindanone, ( 3-Et Ind # [Formula presented] 3-ethyl-2,4,5,6,7-pentamethylindene, ( 3-Et Ind # )H, and rac-3-ethyl-2,4,5,6,7-pentamethylindenylhafnium dichloride, rac-( 3-Et Ind # ) 2 HfCl 2 , were also characterised by X-ray crystallography. rac- and meso-( 3-Et Ind # ) 2 MCl 2 (M = Zr or Hf) were obtained from the reaction of ( 3-Et Ind # )Li with ZrCl 4 or HfCl 4 . The group 4 metallocenes were then reacted with methylaluminoxane-functionalised silica (SSMAO) to afford silica supported catalysts. A mixture of rac- and meso-( 3-Et Ind # ) 2 ZrCl 2 supported on SSMAO demonstrated an initial polymerisation activity of 250 kg PE /mol M /h/bar. At 70 °C, using rac-( 3-Et Ind # ) 2 ZrCl 2 , solution phase polymerisation activities were twenty times faster than slurry phase polymerisation using SSMAO-rac-( 3-Et Ind # ) 2 ZrCl 2 (1243 and 75 kg PE /mol Zr /h/bar respectively)