Copolymerization of Propene and 5-Vinyl-2-Norbornene: A Simple Route to Polar Poly(propylene)s†

The metallocenes rac-C2H4(Ind)2ZrCl2 ( 1 ), rac-Me2Si(Ind)2ZrCl2 ( 2 ), and rac-Me2Si(2-Me-benz[e]Ind)2ZrCl2 ( 3 ) efficiently copolymerize propene and 5-vinyl-2-norbornene (VNB). 1 and 2 give a high VNB content and high productivities, whereas 3 gives moderate incorporation. Surprisingly, precatalysts 1 and 2 , which have very closely related structures, showed very different reactivities toward VNB, with 1 having a greater affinity for VNB than for propene. The copolymers are quantitatively converted into polyolefins with polar functionalities