13Carbon nuclear magnetic resonance of ethylene-propylene-1-decene terpolymers

Many studies have been reported on the C-13 NMR characterization of ethylene-alpha-olefin copolymers, but only a few have been reported on terpolymers. The incorporation of an a-olefin into the polyethylene chain changes the structure and, consequently, the properties of the polymer obtained. Looking for new products, we obtained a series of ethylene-propylene-l-decene terpolymers with the metallocenic system rac-ethylene bisindenyl zirconium dichloride/methylaluminoxane. We performed a complete C-13 NMR characterization of these terpolymers qualitatively and quantitatively. Here we present a detailed study of the C-13 NMR chemical shifts, triad sequence distributions, monomer average sequence lengths, and reactivity ratios for these terpolymers. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.