Synthesis, molecular structure, and polymerization reactivity of ethylenebis(1,3-dimethylcyclopentadienyl)zirconium dichloride

An ethylene-bridged zirconocene complex bearing methyl substituents only on the cyclopentadienyl carbons adjacent to bridge point, ethylenebis(1,3-dimethylcyclopentadienyl)zirconium dichloride (5) was synthesized. Crystal structure of 5 was determined. The complex, 5, when activated with MAO, shows better comonomer incorporation ability than [Ph2C(Fluo)(Cp)]ZrCl2 in the ethylene–norbornene copolymerization but it is not better than rac-Et(Ind)2ZrCl2 for the ethylene-1-hexene copolymerization in terms of activity and comonomer incorporation.