Method to Fabricate Polyolefin Polymer with Hydroxyl Functional Group

1 . A method to fabricate polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group, comprising steps of:

1) blending a polar solvent, an α,ω-alkyenol compound and a trialkyl halosilane compound to form a trialkyl-siloxane group protected co-monomer;

2) copolymerizing the trialkyl-siloxane group protected co-monomer with an α-olefin monomer to form a copolymer with side chain trialkyl-siloxane group protectors in presence of a metallocene catalyst and co-catalyst mixture; and

3) hydrolyzing the copolymer with the side chain trialkyl-siloxane group protectors with an acid to form the polyolefin polymer with at least one hydroxyl functional group.

2 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 1 , wherein the α,ω-alkyenol compound is represented by formula [I]:

CH 2 ═CH-L-OH  [I],

wherein L is alkyl comprising a carbon number from about 1 to about 20.

3 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 2 , wherein L is (CH 2 ) p and p is an integer between about 1 and about 20.

4 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 3 , wherein p is an integer between about 5 and about 11.

5 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 1 , wherein the trialkyl halosilane compound is represented by formula [III]:

wherein each of the R 1 , R 2 and R 3 is the same or different alkyl group comprising a carbon number from about 1 to about 20, X is selected from the group consisting of fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine and a combination thereof.

6 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 5 , wherein one of the R 1 , R 2 and R 3 is alkyl group comprising a carbon number greater than 2, and two of the R 1 , R 2 and R 3 are methyl groups.

7 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 1 , wherein the trialkyl halosilane compound is selected from the group consisting of a tert-butyldimethylchlorosilane, an iso-butyldimethylchlorosilane, a n-butyldimethylchlorosilane and a combination thereof.

8 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 1 , wherein the α-olefin monomer comprises about 3 to about 12 carbon atoms.

9 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 1 , wherein a trialkylaluminum compound represented by formula [XI] is further added to step 2) for the copolymerizing:

wherein each of R 4 , R 5 and R 6 is the same or different alkyl group comprising about 1 to about 20 carbon atoms.

10 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 1 , wherein ethylene is further added to step 2) to react with the α-olefin monomer and the trialkyl-siloxane group protected co-monomer for the copolymerizing.

11 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 10 , wherein the copolymer with side chain trialkyl-siloxane group protectors is represented by formula [VIII]:

wherein L is as defined in claim 2 , R 1 , R 2 and R 3 are as defined in claim 5 , and n is an integer between 0 and about 9, and set total number x+y+z=sum, the mole % of ethylene-derived units in the copolymer, x/sum, is between 0% and about 20%, the mole % of α-olefin units in the copolymer, y/sum, is between about 50% and about 99.9%, and the mole % of hydroxyl functional group derived units in the copolymer, z/sum, is between about 0.1% and about 30%.

12 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 1 , wherein the copolymerizing is carried out in a temperature range from about 35° C. to about 100° C. and a pressure range from about 1 psi to about 1000 psi.

13 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 1 , wherein the α-olefin monomer is in the form of liquid phase.

14 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 1 , wherein ethylene is further added to step 2) to react with the α-olefin monomer and the trialkyl-siloxane group protected co-monomer for the copolymerizing and the polyolefin polymer is represented by formula [XII]:

wherein L is as defined in claim 2 , and n, x, y, and z are as defined in claim 11 .

15 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 1 , wherein the hydroxyl functional group molar percent of the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group is between about 0.1% and about 30%.

16 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 1 , wherein the average molecular weight of the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group is from about 10,000 to about 5,000,000.

17 . A method to fabricate polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group, comprising steps of:

1) blending a polar solvent, an α,ω-alkyenol compound and a dialkyl dihalosilane compound to form a dialkyl-siloxane group protected co-monomer;

2) copolymerizing the dialkyl-siloxane group protected co-monomer with an α-olefin monomer to form a copolymer with side chain dialkyl-siloxane group protectors in presence of a metallocene catalyst and co-catalyst mixture; and

3) hydrolyzing the copolymer with side chain dialkyl-siloxane group protectors with an acid to form the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group.

18 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 17 , wherein the α,ω-alkyenol compound is represented by formula [I]:

CH 2 ═CH-L-OH  [I],

wherein L is alkyl comprising a carbon number from about 1 to about 20, and the dialkyl dihalosilane compound is represented by formula [IV]:

wherein each of the R 7 and R 8 is the same or different alkyl group comprising a carbon number from about 1 to about 20, and X is selected from the group consisting of fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine and a combination thereof.

19 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 17 , wherein ethylene is further added to step 2) to react with the α-olefin monomer and the trialkyl-siloxane group protected co-monomer for the copolymerizing and the polyolefin polymer is represented by formula [XII]:

wherein L is as defined in claim 18 , and n is an integer between 0 and about 9, and set total number x+y+z=sum, the mole % of ethylene-derived units in the copolymer, x/sum, is between 0% and about 20%, the mole % of α-olefin units in the copolymer, y/sum, is between about 50% and about 99.9%, and the mole % of hydroxyl functional group derived units in the copolymer, z/sum, is between about 0.1% and about 30%.

20 . The method to fabricate the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group according to claim 17 , wherein ethylene is further added to step 2) to react with the α-olefin monomer and the trialkyl-siloxane group protected co-monomer for the copolymerizing and the copolymer with side chain dialkyl-siloxane group protectors is represented by formula [IX]:

wherein L and each of the R 7 and R 8 are as defined in claim 18 , n is an integer between 0 and about 9, and G and G′, independently, are selected from the group consisting of H and polymer chain,

wherein first set total number x+y+z+u=sum, the mole % of ethylene-derived units in the copolymer is defined as x/sum, which is between 0% and about 20%, the mole % of α-olefin units in the copolymer is defined as y/sum, which is between about 50% and about 99.9%, the mole % of hydroxyl functional group derived units in the copolymer is defined as (z+u)/sum, which is between about 0.1% and about 30%, wherein the hydroxyl functional group molar percentage of the polyolefin polymer with hydroxyl functional group is between about 0.1% and about 30%.