Olefin block copolymer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9644064-B2
Application number	US-201615177942-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 9, 2016
Priority date	Jan 27, 2011
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

The present description relates to an olefin block copolymer with excellences in elasticity, heat resistance, and processability. The olefin block copolymer comprises a plurality of blocks or segments, each comprising an ethylene or propylene repeating unit and an α-olefin repeating unit at different mole fractions. The olefin block copolymer comprises polymer chains containing 20 to 100 short-chain branches (SCBs) per 1,000 carbon atoms. A point where a first derivative of the number Y of the SCBs per 1,000 carbon atoms of each polymer chain with respect to the molecular weight X of the polymer chain is 0 exists between the minimum and maximum values of the molecular weight X.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of producing an olefin block copolymer, comprising:
subjecting ethylene or propylene and an α-olefin to copolymerization at a temperature of 70 to 150° C. in the presence of a catalyst composition comprising a metallocene catalyst having a Group IV transition metal and a Lewis base functional group, and a cocatalyst having a Lewis acid element and an organic functional group, wherein the metallocene catalyst comprises a metallocene compound of Chemical Formula 1:

in Chemical Formula 1, R1 to R17 are the same with or different from each other, and are independently hydrogen, a halogen, a C1-C20 alkyl group, a C2-C20 alkenyl group, a C6-C20 aryl group, a C7-C20 alkylaryl group, or a C7-C20 arylalkyl group, respectively, L is a straight or branched chain C1-C10 alkylene group, D is —O—, —S— or —N(R)—, wherein R is hydrogen, a halogen, a C1-C20 alkyl group, a C2-C20 alkenyl group, or a C6-C20 aryl group, A is hydrogen, a halogen, a C1-C20 alkyl group, a C2-C20 alkenyl group, a C6-C20 aryl group, a C7-C20 alkylaryl group, a C7-C20 arylalkyl group, a C2-C20 alkoxy alkyl group, a C2-C20 heterocyclic alkyl group, or a C5-C20 heteroaryl group, and when the D is —N(R)—, R can be linked with A to form a heterocycle comprising nitrogen, for example, a five to eight membered heterocycle such as piperidinyl or pyrrolidinyl moiety, M is a Group IV transition metal, X1 and X2 are the same with or different from each other, and are independently a halogen, a C1-C20 alkyl group, a C2-C20 alkenyl group, a C6-C20 aryl group, a nitro group, an amido group, a C1-C20 alkylsilyl group, a C1-C20 alkoxy group, or a C0-C20 sulfonate group, respectively;
wherein at the copolymerization temperature, there occur alternatively between the metallocene catalyst and the cocatalyst a first state in which the Lewis base functional group and the Lewis acid element form an acid-base bond and a second state in which the metallocene catalyst and the cocatalyst has no interaction therebetween;
wherein the Group IV transition metal of the metallocene catalyst and the organic functional group of the cocatalyst do interaction with each other in the first state;
wherein the olefin block copolymer comprises a plurality of blocks or segments, each comprising an ethylene or propylene repeating unit and an α-olefin repeating unit at different mole fractions, and the olefin block copolymer comprises polymer chains comprising 20 to 100 short-chain branches (SCBs) per 1,000 carbon atoms; and
wherein a point where a first derivative of the number Y of the SCBs per 1,000 carbon atoms of each polymer chain with respect to the molecular weight X of the polymer chain is 0 exists between the minimum values of the molecular weight X and the maximum peak molecular weight Mp of the block copolymer.

2. The method of producing an olefin block copolymer in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the α-olefin is at least one selected from the group consisting of 1-butene, 1-pentene, 4-methyl-1-pentene, 1-hexene, 1-heptene, 1-octene, 1-decene, 1-undecene, 1-dodecene, 1-tetradecene and 1-hexadecene.

3. The method of producing an olefin block copolymer in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the cocatalyst comprises a compound of Chemical Formula 3:
—[Al(R18)-O] n -  [Chemical Formula 3]

in Chemical Formula 3, R18s are the same with or different from each other, and are independently a C1-C20 hydrocarbon; or a C1-C20 hydrocarbon substituted with a halogen; and n is an integer of at least two.

4. The method of producing an olefin block copolymer in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the first derivative is a positive number in a region where the molecular weight X is less than at the point where the first derivative is 0.

5. The method of producing an olefin block copolymer in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the first derivative is a negative number in a region where the molecular weight X is greater than at the point where the first derivative is 0.

6. The method of producing an olefin block copolymer in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the olefin block copolymer comprises a hard segment comprising a first mole fraction of the α-olefin repeating unit, and a soft segment comprising a second mole fraction of the α-olefin repeating unit,
wherein the second mole fraction is greater than the first mole fraction.

7. The method of producing an olefin block copolymer in accordance with claim 6 , wherein the mole fraction of the α-olefin repeating unit contained in the entire block copolymer has a value between the first and second mole fractions.

8. The method of producing an olefin block copolymer in accordance with claim 6 , wherein the olefin block copolymer comprises 20 to 95 mol. % of the hard segment and 5 to 80 mol. % of the soft segment.

9. The method of producing an olefin block copolymer in accordance with claim 6 , wherein the olefin block copolymer comprises 80 to 98 mol. % of the ethylene or propylene repeating unit and a remaining content of the α-olefin repeating unit.

Assignees

• Lg Chemical Ltd

Inventors

• Jeon Man-Seong
• Lee Ki-Soo
• Lee Yong-Ho
• Kwon Heon-Yong
• Cho Min-Seok
• Kim Seon-Kyoung
• Lim Kyoung-Chan
• Hong Dae-Sik

Classifications

• C08F299/00

  Macromolecular compounds obtained by interreacting polymers involving only carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bond reactions, in the absence of non-macromolecular monomers · CPC title

• C08L23/16

  Ethylene-propylene or ethylene-propylene-diene copolymers · CPC title

• C08F297/08 Primary

  polymerising mono-olefins · CPC title

• C08F297/083 Primary

  the monomers being ethylene or propylene · CPC title

• C08F2500/10

  Short chain branches · CPC title