Late transition metal catalyzed insertion copolymerization of 1,1-disubstituted difunctional polar monomers with ethylene: synthesis, reactivity and Implications

Abstract

Among various polymers produced worldwide, polyolefins (i.e. polyethylene and polypropene) stand out as the largest volume polymers and due to their outstanding properties, such as solvent resistance, thermal stability and found applications in various commodities. However, due to the absence of functional groups in these polymers, they perform poorly when functional surfaces are required. Incorporation of only a small amount of functionalized monomers, randomly distributed in the polymer backbone, would most likely produce functional surfaces, without deteriorating the beneficial properties of the original non-functionalized polyolefins.1 The properties of the resulting materials can be further tuned by varying the nature of the functional groups, the amount of incorporation and the distribution of the polar functionalities along the polymer chain. For example, High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), which is mainly produced by early transition metal catalyzed polymerization reaction, has essentially linear structure with long chains to have high strength, good chemical resistance, high Tm (135 °C), and almost no brittle behaviour at low temperatures.2,3 The incorporation of 1-2 % of oxygen atom to HDPE induces the change of water contact angle from 112° to ca. 70°.