Copolymerizations of ethylene with α-olefin-ω-ols by highly active vanadium(III) catalysts bearing [N,O] bidentate chelated ligands

The copolymerizations of ethylene with polar hydroxyl monomers such as 10-undecen-1-ol, 5-hexen-1-ol and 3-buten-1-ol were investigated by the vanadium(III) catalysts bearing bidentate [N,O] ligands (1, [PhN C(CH3)CHC(Ph)O]VCl2(THF)2; 2, [PhN CHC6H4O]VCl2(THF)2; 3, [PhN CHC(Ph)CHO]VCl2(THF)2). The polar monomers were pretreated by alkylaluminum before the polymerization. High catalytic activities and efficient comonomer incorporations can be easily obtained by changing monomer masking reagents and polymerization conditions in the presence of diethylaluminium chloride as a cocatalyst. The longer the spacer group, the higher the incorporation of the monomer. Under the mild conditions, the incorporation level of 10-undecen-1-ol reached 13.9 mol% in the resultant copolymers was obtained. The reactivity ratios of copolymerization (r1 = 41.4, r2 = 0.02, r1r2 = 0.83) were evaluated by Fineman–Ross method. According to 13C NMR spectra, polar units were located both on the main chain and at the chain end. The end-hydroxylated polymers were probably obtained due to the formation of dormant species after the insertion of the comonomer followed by the chain transfer to alkylaluminum. In addition, the signals derived from polar monomer inverse insertion were detected for the first time.