Production of vinylidene-terminated and sulfide-terminated telechelic polyolefins via quenching with disulfides

A method for preparing a vinylidene terminated polyolefin, comprising:

• (a) ionizing a polyolefin in the presence of a Lewis acid or mixture of Lewis acids to form an ionized polyolefin;
• (b) reacting the ionized polyolefin from step (a) with one or more disulfides of formula I to form an intermediate;
• RA—S—S—RB I
• wherein RA and RB are each independently alkyl, aryl, aralkyl, or alkaryl;
• and
• (c) reacting the intermediate of step (b) with one or more alcohols or amines.