A PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF POLYETHYLENE

摘要

A process for the preparation of (i) polyethylene or (ii) polypropylene, which is essentially isotactic or a mixture of atactic and isotactic polypropylenes comprising contacting ethylene or propylene per se, or in admixture with one or more alpha-olefins, under polymerization conditions, with a catalyst system comprising: (a) a precatalyst comprising a mixture of racemic and meso stereoisomers of a metallocene catalyst containing two cycloalkadienyl ligands joined by a bridging linkage, said ligands complexed to a metal atom; and (b) (1) to obtain polyethylene made by the rac epimer only, a cocatalyst selected from the group consisting of tris(perfluorophenyl)borane and isobutyl alumoxane; (2) to obtain polyethylene made by both the rac and the meso epimers, a cocatalyst selected from the group consisting of dimethylanilinium tetrakis(perfluorophenyl)borate and triphenylmethyl tetrakis(perfluorophenyl)borate; (3) to obtain polypropylene, which is essentially isotactic, a cocatalyst selected from the group consisting of tris(perfluorophenyl)borane and isobutyl alumoxane; (4) to obtain polypropylene, which is a mixture of atactic and isotactic polypropylenes in a weight ratio of atactic to isotactic polypropylenes of about 0.01:1 to about 1:1, a cocatalyst selected from the group consisting of dimethylanilinium tetrakis(perfluorophenyl)borate and triphenylmethyl tetrakis(perfluorophenyl)borate wherein, in the catalyst system, the atomic ratio of aluminum, if present, to the metal atom in the precatalyst is in the range of about 1:1 to about 1000:1 and the atomic ratio of boron, if present, to the metal atom in the precatalyst is about 1:1 to about 3:1 and when isobutyl alumoxane is used, a mixture of isobutyl alumoxane and the precatalyst is heated to a temperature of at least about 90 degrees C for at least about one hour prior to use.