The π–π stacking effect of metallocene catalyst in olefin polymerization

The single-sited metallocene catalyst has attracted significant attention due to its high activity and application in olefin polymerization industry. In this work, we introduced a strategy of in situ modification of metallocene catalyst with pyrene through π–π stacking to study the effect in olefin polymerization. After activated by MMAO, the pyrene-modified metallocene catalyst exhibited high activities (up to 1333 kg mol⁻¹ h⁻¹) in ethylene polymerization, which was 1.9 times higher than that of the pyrene free catalyst system. This could be because the electron-donating ability of cyclopentene to the transition metal was enhanced through π–π interaction of pyrene with cyclopentene. The copolymerization of ethylene and 1-hexene was also studied. The pyrene-modified metallocene catalyst system performs with higher activity in the copolymerization with a lower monomer incorporation ratio. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicated the formation of π–π interaction between the Zr center with pyrene molecule leading to the increase in steric hindrance and electron density. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.)