Preparation of chiral titanocenes

A method for preparing a dialkylsilyl (2-alkyl-4-arylindenyl) titanium dichloride which comprises:

• (i) reacting a 2-alkyl-4-arylindene with an alkali metal alkyl and a dihalodialkyl silane to provide a first reaction mixture in a first reaction vessel;
• (ii) separately reacting in a second reaction vessel titanium tetrachloride with a second alkali metal alkyl which may be the same as or different from said first alkali metal alkyl to provide a second reaction mixture containing titanium trichloride in said second reaction vessel;
• wherein said second reaction mixture contains a ligand of said dialkylsilyl (2-alkyl-4-arylindenyl) titanocene dichloride in which titanium is present in a plus three oxidation state;
• (iii) combining said first and second reaction mixtures in the presence of an oxidizing agent;
• wherein a third reaction mixture containing a mixture of rac and meso forms of said dialkylsilyl (2-alkyl-4-arylindenyl) titanium dichloride is produced.