Patent ID: 7863394

Claim:
A method of polymerizing poly(cyclic)olefin monomers comprising: combining a monomer composition comprising one or more poly(cyclic)olefin monomers, a non-olefinic chain transfer agent and an activator compound in a reaction vessel to form a mixture; and adding a polymerization catalyst containing Ni, the polymerization catalyst causing the mixture to polymerize; wherein the non-olefinic chain transfer agent includes one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of alkylalkoxysilanes, alkylgermanes, alkylalkoxygermanes, alkylstannanes, and alkylalkoxystannanes; wherein the polymerization catalyst containing Ni is selected from the group consisting of, (i) polymerization catalysts containing Ni represented by Formula (XII), [Lâ€²yNiX*z]WCAâ€ƒâ€ƒ(XII) wherein Lâ€² represents a ligand containing 1, 2, or 3 olefinic Ï€ bonds; X* represents a ligand containing 1 Niâ€”C Ïƒ bond and between 0-3 olefinic Ï€ bonds; y is 0, 1, or 2 and z is 1 or 2 and wherein y and z cannot both be 0 at the same time, and (ii) polymerization catalysts containing Ni represented by Formula (XI), [LnNi(R ewg ) 2 ]â€ƒâ€ƒ(XI) wherein n is an integer of 0, 1 or 2, L represents a monodentate ligand or a bidentate ligand, and R ewg represents an electron withdrawing ligand; and wherein the activator is characterized as having a functional group containing an active hydrogen with a pKa of at least about 5.