Refine
Year of publication
- 2005 (1)
Document Type
- Doctoral Thesis (1)
Language
- English (1)
Has Fulltext
- yes (1)
Faculty / Organisational entity
Metallocenes containing diarylethene type photochromic switches are synthesized, characterized and tested in polyolefin catalysts. Propylene polymerizations using unbridged bis(2,3-dibenzo[b]thiophen-3-yl)cyclopenta[b]thien-3-yl)zirconium dichloride/MAO (80) treated with 254nm UV irradiation produced bimodal polymer distributions by GPC. This was due to an increase in the low molecular weight fractions when the closed form of the catalyst/photoswitch was made. Comparison with similarly structured catalyst without photoisomerization properties did not produce bimodal polymer under identical conditions. Propylene polymerizations made with dimethylsilyl[(1,5-dimethyl-3-phenylcyclopenta[b]thien-6-yl)][(2,3-dibenzothien-3-yl)cyclopenta[b]thien-6-yl)]zirconium dichloride/MAO (86) with 254nm UV irradiation caused a 3 fold increase in the polymer molecular weight. Polymers made with ethylene and ethylene/hexene using (80) after UV irradiation did not show differences in measured polymer properties. Polymerizations with ethylene/ hexene mixtures using (86) had increased activity and co-monomer (hexene) incorporation with UV irradiation.