Copolymerizations of Ethylene with 1-Hexene over ansa-Metallocene Diamide Complexes

We have performed copolymerizations of ethylene with 1-hexene using various ansa-metallocene compounds in the presence of the non-coordinative [CPh$_3$][B(C$\_$6/F$\_$5/)$_4$ion pair as a cocatalyst. The metallocenes chosen for this study are isospecific metallocene diamide compounds, rac-(EBI)Zr(NMe$_2$)$_2$ [1, EBI = ethylene-l ,2-bis(1-indenyl)], rac-(EBI)Hf(NMe$_2$)$_2$ (2), rac-(EBI)Zr(NC$_4$H$\_$8/)$_2$ (3), and rac-(CH$_3$)$_3$Si(1-C$\_$5/H$_2$-2-CH$_3$-4-$\^$t/C$_4$H$\_$9/)2 Zr(NMe$_2$)$_2$ (4), and syndiospecific metallocene dimethyl compounds, ethylidene(cyclopentadienyl)(9-fluorenyl) ZrMe$_2$ [5, Et(Flu)(Cp )ZrMe$_2$] and isopropylidence (cyclopentadienyl)(9-fluorenyl)ZrMe$_2$ [6, iPr(Flu)(Cp)ZrMe$_2$]. The copolymerization rate decreased in the order 4 ＞1-3＞2 ＞5＞6. The reactivity of I -hexene decreased in the order 2 ＞6＞1- 3-5＞ 4. We characterized the microstructure of the resulting poly(ethylene-co-l-hexene) by $\^$l3/C NMR spectroscopy and investigated various other properties of the copolymers in detail.