A ROUTE TO LOW POLYDISPERSITY LINEAR AND STAR POLYETHYLENES VIA RING-OPENING METATHESIS POLYMERIZATION

Living ring-opening metathesis polymerization of cyclopentene, initiat ed with a well-defined tungsten alkylidene complex, has been used to p repare low polydispersity linear and star poly(1-pentenylene)s. This w as achieved by using di- and trifunctional aldehydes in the Wittig-lik e capping reactions of the living polymers. The resulting materials we re hydrogenated to the corresponding polyethylene structures using a f rom p-toluenesulfonyl hydrazide. An overview of this process, together with characterization data for the resulting materials, is presented. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.