Critical conditions for liquid chromatography of statistical polyolefins: Evaluation of diene distribution in EPDM terpolymers.

Liquid chromatography at critical conditions is of interest as it may unravel molecular information on macromolecular structures not accessible by any other analytical techniques. Yet so far, such conditions have never been experimentally established for copolymers, where a particular need for such information exists. Toward this goal, critical conditions for statistical ethylene propylene copolymers were identified. In the first approach the composition of the binary mobile phase was varied at a constant temperature, and secondly by modulating the adsorption-desorption temperature at constant mobile phase composition. Solvents for both methods were identified by using a novel approach that combines structure retention relationships with Hansen Solubility Parameters. As a result, for the first time, the heterogeneity of an ethylene propylene diene terpolymer sample with regard to the pendant double bond of the diene could be determined. The novel chromatographic approach was validated by measuring the composition of fractions taken over the chromatographic run offline by nuclear magnetic resonance. In summary, this work gave the first experimental evidence for the existence of critical conditions for polyolefin random copolymers, as postulated by Brun. This novel chromatographic approach holds immense potential to engineer complex polymers towards future applications by making use of the now-accessible molecular information.

Separation of ethylene-norbornene copolymers using high performance liquid chromatography.

The elution behavior of ethylene-norbornene (EN) copolymers prepared with various catalysts was studied in selected binary solvent gradients using porous graphite (HypercarbTM) as stationary phase. It was found that the elution volumes of the EN copolymers correlated with their average norbornene content. For a series with norbornene content lower than 20 mol % the correlation was positive (i.e. increasing elution volumes with increasing norbornene content), whereas for a series with norbornene contents above 20 mol % it was negative (decreasing elution volumes with increasing norbornene content). It is known that EN copolymers have complicated microstructures that depend on norbornene content and the catalyst system used for synthesis. Thus, it is supposed that the opposing trends in the elution behavior of the EN copolymers are caused by differences in their microstructure, ultimately governed by the norbornene content. Our conclusions are supported by results from NMR spectroscopy, which revealed the microstructure, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).

Synthesis, solid state and DFT structure and olefin polymerization capability of a unique base-free dimeric methyl titanium dication.

Reaction of Cp*Ti{NC(Ar(F(2)))N(i)Pr(2)}Me(2) (1, Ar(F(2)) = 2,6-C(6)H(3)F(2)) with [Ph(3)C][B(C(6)F(5))(4)] gave the base-free structurally authenticated dication [Cp*(2)Ti(2){NC(Ar(F(2)))N(i)Pr(2)}(2)(mu-Me)(2)][B(C(6)F(5))(4)](2) (3-[BF(20)](2)) containing two doubly alpha-agostic bridging methyl groups. 3-[BF(20)](2) is a highly effective ethylene-propylene polymerization catalyst at 90 degrees C, and its performance is identical to the catalyst generated in situ from 1 and [Ph(3)C][B(C(6)F(5))(4)].