Process for producing a propylene random copolymer

Claim 1

A process for producing a propylene random copolymer which comprises contacting monomers with a polymerization catalyst, wherein said monomers comprise propylene and a non-conjugated branched diene represented by the formula: CH 2 ═CH--(CH 2 ) n --C(R.sub.α)═C(R.sub.β)--(R.sub.γ) and optionally an α-olefin represented by the formula: CH 2 ═CH--C m H 2m+1 , which provide the following repeating units (I)-(III) in quantities of 70-99.9 molar % of (I), 0-15 molar % of (II) and 0.1-30 molar % of (III), respectively, in admixture with the catalyst to give the random copolymer; ##STR6## wherein m denotes 0 or an integer of 2-10, R.sub.α, R.sub.β, R.sub.γ independently represent an hydrogen atom or a hydrocarbyl group having 1-5 carbon atoms, at least one of R.sub.β and R.sub.γ being the hydrocarbyl group, and n denotes an integer of 1-5, the polymerization catalyst comprising: component (A) which is a transition metal compound represented by the formula: Q.sub.a (C.sub.5 H.sub.5-a-b R.sup.1.sub.b)(C.sub.5 H.sub.5-a-c R.sup.2.sub.c)MeXY wherein (C 5 H 5-a-b R 1 b ) and (C 5 H 5-a-c R 2 c ), respectively, represent a conjugated five-membered ring ligand coordinating to a metal Me, R 1 and R 2 , respectively, represent a hydrocarbyl group having 1-20 carbon atoms, a halogen atom an alkoxy group, a silicon-containing hydrocarbyl group, a phosphorus-containing hydrocarbyl group, a nitrogen-containing hydrocarbyl group or a boron-containing hydrocarbyl group, wherein R 1 and R 2 or a boron containing hydrocarbyl group, wherein R 1 and R 2 may be the same or different, and a plurality of R 1 or of R 2 can be bonded to each other, Q represents a bonding group crosslinking the two conjugated five-membered ring ligands, Me represents a transition metal of groups IVB-VIB in the Periodic Table, X and Y, which may be the same or different, represent a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a hydrocarbyl group, an alkoxy group, an amino group, a phosphorus-containing hydrocarbyl group or a silicon containing hydrocarbyl group, respectively, a denotes 1, b denotes an integer in the range of 0≦b≦5 and c denotes an integer in the range of 0≦c≦5 wherein 0≦a+b≦5 and 0≦a+c≦5; and component (B) which is an alumoxane.