Trimethylammonium[tetrakis(pentafluorophenoxy)borate], a safe way to synthesize novel co-catalysts for olefin polymerization

The synthesis and characterization of the novel co-catalyst trimethylammoni um[tetrakis(pentafluorophenoxy)borate] (1) is reported. Activation of TIBA allkylated 2.6-bis[1-(2,6-diisopropylphenylimino)ethyl]pyridyl-iron(II) chl oride (2) using activator 1 forms an active catalyst system for homogeneous polymerization of ethene. The molecular structure of this new weakly coord inating anion was determined by single-crystal X-ray analysis. The straight forward synthesis of 1 is interesting for possible industrial applications. Polymerization experiments using activator 1 demonstrate higher activities than with the commonly used co-catalyst [HNMe2Ph][B(C6F5)(4)]. (C) 2001 El sevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.