Immobilization of isolated FI catalyst on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-functionalized silica for the synthesis of weakly entangled polyethylene

Chem Commun (Camb). 2016 Sep 25;52(74):11092-5. doi: 10.1039/c6cc04814e. Epub 2016 Aug 22.

Abstract

Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSSs) were adsorbed on methylaluminoxane-activated silica for the immobilization of fluorinated bis(phenoxyimine)Ti complexes (FI catalyst). These POSSs have been characterized as horizontal spacers isolating the active sites and hindering the chain overlap in polymerization. The heterogeneous catalyst exhibits considerable activity in the synthesis of weakly entangled polyethylene.