Poly-α-Olefins from Polypropene to Poly-1-eicosene Made with Metallocene Catalysts

ABSTRACT Linear α-olefins from propene to 1-eicosene have been polymerized using a zirconocene catalyst and a hafnocene catalyst. The resulting isotactic polymers were characterized by NMR, GPC and DSC analysis. Compared to the zirconocene products the molecular weights of the poly-α-olefins made with the hafnocene catalyst were higher. The molecular weight distribution was found to be narrow as expected for metallocene polymers. DSC measurements showed that side chain crystallization occurs for the polymers from poly-1-decene to poly-1-eicosene.