The effect of temperature on the polymerization of propene with dimethylsilylbis(1-indenyl)zirconium dichloride/methylaluminoxane and dimethylsilylbis(2-methyl-1-indenyl)zirconium dichloride/methylaluminoxane. Modeling of kinetics

Propene polymerizations were performed using the two ansa-zirconocene catalyst systems dimethylsilylbis(1-indenyl)zirconium dichloride/methylaluminoxane and dimethylsilylbis(2-methyl-1-indenyl)zirconium dichloride/methylaluminoxane. The polymerization rate was observed by continuously monitoring the monomer consumption. Reaction rate profiles were obtained in the temperature range from 40°C to 130°C at pressures between 1 and 2.5 bar and catalyst concentrations from 4.6 · 10−6 M to 4.2 · 10−5 M. Isotacticity, as measured by NMR, melting point and molecular weight decreases markedly at higher temperatures. Small amounts of 1,3-inserted monomer (<1 mol-%) was observed at polymerization temperatures above 80°C. No 2,1-inserted monomer was detected. A kinetic model was developed that describes the polymerization rate for Me2Si(Ind)2ZrCl2 as the catalyst over the entire observed temperature range, and the polymerization rate for Me2Si(2-Me-Ind)2ZrCl2 in a limited temperature range. The model includes an activation reaction, latent sites that may revert to active sites and a permanent deactivation that is second order with respect to the active sites. The activation energy for the propagation reaction was found to be 37 kJ/mol for Me2Si(Ind)2ZrCl2 and 32 kJ/mol for Me2Si(2-Me-Ind)2ZrCl2/MAO. Several kinetic models are compared and discussed.