Patent ID: 7312285

Claim:
A method, comprising: contacting a norbornene-based monomer having an ester or acetyl group with a catalyst system comprising: i) a Group X transition metal compound represented by M(R) 2, wherein M is a Group X metal and R is a ligand selected from the group consisting of acetate, and acetylacetonate (R“C(O)CHC(O)R”), wherein each of R″ is hydrogen; C 1 to C 20 linear or branched alkyl, alkenyl, or vinyl; C 5 to C 12 cycloalkyl substituted with hydrocarbon or unsubstituted; C 6 to C 40 aryl substituted with hydrocarbon or unsubstituted; C 6 to C 40 aryl having hetero atom; C 7 to C 15 aralkyl substituted with hydrocarbon or unsubstituted; or C 3 to C 20 alkynyl; ii) a compound comprising a neutral Group XV electron donor ligand having a cone angle of at least 160°; and iii) a salt capable of offering an anion that can be weakly coordinated to the i) transition metal, in solvent to conduct an addition polymerization; and forming a norbornene-based addition polymer having a polar group of ester or acetyl having a number average molecular weight (Mn) of 10,000 to 1,000,000, which is a norbornene-based homopolymer comprising an ester or acetyl group or a copolymer of norbornene-based monomers comprising different ester or acetyl groups.