Patent ID: 7674847

Claim:
A method of polymerizing poly(cyclic)olefin monomers comprising: (a) 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 (b) adding a polymerization catalyst containing Ni and/or Pd ligated only by a monodentate ligand, the catalyst causing the mixture to polymerize; wherein the non-olefinic chain transfer agent includes one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of H 2 , alkylsilanes, alkylalkoxysilanes, alkylgermanes, alkylalkoxygermanes, alkylstannanes, and alkylalkoxystannanes, further wherein said activator has a functional group containing an active hydrogen with a pKa of at least about 5.