Process of polymerizing olefins using diphenylsilyl or dimethyl tin bridged 1-methyl fluorenyl metallocenes

A process for producing a solid polymer comprising reacting a fluorenyl compound selected from the group consisting of bis(1-methyl fluorenyl) diphenyl silyl and bis(1-methyl fluorenyl) dimethyl tin with an alkali metal alkyl to produce the divalent salt of the bis-fluorenyl compound and then reacting that divalent salt with zirconium tetrachloride to produce the corresponding bridged bis(1-methyl fluorenyl) zirconium dichloride metallocene, recovering the metallocene, and contacting said metallocene with at least one olefin having at least three carbon atoms per molecule in the presence of a suitable cocatalyst for the metallocene under conditions sufficient to form a solid polymer of said at least one olefin having at least three carbon atoms per molecule.

A process for producing a solid polypropylene containing at least 78.5% isotacticity comprising contacting propylene with a catalyst system comprising a metallocene consisting essentially of a metallocene selected from the group consisting of bis(1-methyl fluorenyl) diphenyl silyl zirconium dichloride and bis(1-methyl fluorenyl) dimethyl tin zirconium dichloride under suitable conditions to form said solid polypropylene.