Synthesis of novel ansa-metallocene complex with bridged bis(indenyl) ligand and its application for olefin polymerization

Abstract Novel ansa -metallocene complexes containing bis(indenyl) ligands bridged at 4 position were obtained. Ethylene or trimethylene bridged type zirconocene was synthesized from bis( p -tolyl)ethane or bis( P -tolyl)propane as starting material, respectively. Dimethylsilylene bridged type zirconocene was prepared from the protected 4-bromo-1-indanone derivative. It turned out that meso -C 2 H 4 [4,4'- (2,7-dimethylindenyl) 2 ]ZrCl2 and rac-Me2Si[4,4'-(2-methylindenyl)2]ZrCl2 were suitable catalysts for producing ethylene/1-hexene copolymers with high molecular weight. Highly isotactic polypropylene was obtained by using rac -Me2Si[4,4'-(3-methyl-l-phenylindenyl) 2 ]ZrCl 2 catalyst and contained only small amounts of 3,1-type regiodefects. The molecular structures of these complexes were confirmed by X-ray analysis.