Discovery of Methylaluminoxane as Cocatalyst for Olefin Polymerization

The discovery of methylaluminoxane (MAO) was the start for investigations and innovations of new classes of highly active olefin polymerization catalysts. Different transition metal complexes together with MAO as cocatalyst allow the synthesis of polymers with a highly defined microstructure, tacticity, and stereoregularity as well as new cycloolefin, long chain branched, or blocky copolymers with excellent properties. These new polyolefins could not be obtaind with such a purity before by Ziegler–Natta catalysts. The single site catalyst character of metallocene and other transition metal complexes activated by MAO leads to a better understanding of the mechanism of the olefin polymerization.