INOR 445 |
| In the last decade, The Dow Chemical Company has discovered and commercialized a significant number of new polyolefin products. Many of these new materials were enabled through the discovery of new organometallic-based homogeneous catalysts. The commercial growth of some of these polymers has been significant, with sales of over 1 million metric tons per year. An example of a recently commercialized product is our VERSIFYx Plastomers and Elastomers, based on a high-throughput discovery of a novel catalyst capable of producing highly isotactic polypropylene in a high temperature solution process. These catalysts were discovered using a fully integrated high-throughput screening methodology, in a joint research program between The Dow Chemical Company and Symyx Technologies. These pro-catalysts are highly active for the isotactic polymerization of 1-alkenes, and for copolymerization of 1-alkenes with ethene. The utility and potential applications of the polymers will be discussed, along with polymer microstructure and catalyst mechanistic details. |
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Market Pull versus Technology Push in Industrial Organometallic Chemistry
8:30 AM-11:55 AM, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 Convention Center -- Room 6E, Oral
Division of Inorganic Chemistry |