Non-Hydrolytic Preparation of SMAO and Catalysts

A method comprising:

• preparing an alumoxane precursor from an organic oxygen source, a hydrocarbyl aluminum, and an organic solvent;
• heating the alumoxane precursor to form an alumoxane suspension;
• and
• removing solid methylaluminoxane from the alumoxane suspension by filtering the alumoxane suspension to form a filtered solution,
• wherein the filtering the alumoxane solution comprises filtering the solid methylaluminoxane having one or more of the following properties,
• a particle size distribution of from about 30 μm to about 45 μm (<10%), from about 50 μm to about 70 μm (<25%), from about 110 μm to about 140 μm (<50%), from about 390 μm to about 420 μm (<75%), or from about 820 μm to about 840 μm (<90%);
• a BET Surface area of from about 10 m2/g to about 80 m2/g;
• and/or
• a pore volume of from about 0.01 mL/g to about 0.2 mL/g (BJH adsorption cumulative between 17 Å and 3000 Å).