Hard versus Soft Materials as Supports for Metallocene and Post‐Metallocene Catalysts

The influence of organic supports on the polymerization behavior of post‐metallocene catalysts is studied and compared with similarly supported titanium and zirconium metallocenes. The effects of the immobilization, activation, and polymerization process were studied by video microscopy, laser confocal fluorescence microscopy, SEM, and TEM. A model for the polymerization process for a catalyst supported on latex particles was developed from the results obtained. Organic supports based on latex particles are easily adjustable for different catalysts due to the versatile functionalization of the surfaces and can be applied to different types of olefin polymerization catalysts. They can be considered as an alternative to SiO₂ or MgCl₂ supports.