Process for producing crystalline poly-α-olefins with a monocyclopentadienyl transition metal catalyst system

Claim 1

A process for producing crystalline poly-α-olefins comprising the steps of (i) contacting an α-olefin monomer at a temperature and pressure sufficient to polymerize such monomer with a catalyst system comprising; (A) an alumoxane, and (B) a group IV-B transition metal component of the formula ##STR12## wherein M is Zr, Hf or Ti in its highest formal oxidation state; R is a substituent group with "x" denoting the degree of substitution (x=0, 1, 2, 3 or 4) and each R is, independently, a radical selected from a group consisting of C 1 -C 20 hydrocarbyl radicals, substituted C 1 -C 20 hydrocarbyl radicals wherein one or more hydrogen atoms is replaced by a halogen radical, an amido radical, a phosphido radical, an alkoxy radical or any other radical containing a Lewis acidic or basic functionality, C 1 -C 20 hydrocarbyl-substituted metalloid radicals wherein the metalloid is selected from the Group IV A of the Periodic Table of Elements, and halogen radicals, amido radicals, phosphido radicals, alkoxy radicals, alkylborido radicals or a radical containing Lewis acidic or basic functionality, or at least two adjacent R-groups are joined forming C 4 -C 20 ring to give a saturated or unsaturated polycyclic cyclopentadienyl ligand; (JR' z-2 ) is a heteroatom ligand in which J is an element with a coordination number of three from Group V A or an element with a coordination number of two from Group VI A of the Periodic Table of Elements, and each R' is, independently a radical selected from a group consisting of C 1 -C 20 hydrocarbyl radicals, substituted C 1 -C 20 hydrocarbyl radicals where one or more hydrogen atom is replaced by a halogen radical, an amido radical, a phosphido radical, and alkoxy radical or a radical containing a Lewis acidic or basic functionality, and "z" is the coordination number of the element J; each Q is, independently, any univalent anionic ligand or two Q's are a divalent anionic chelating ligand; T is a covalent bridging group containing a Group IV A or V A element; L is a neutral Lewis base where "w" denotes a number from 0 to 3; (ii) recovering a crystalline poly-α-olefin.