The present invention relates to poly &agr;-olefins (PAO's) which exhibit superior Noack volatility at low pour points. Mixtures of 1-decene and 1-dodecene are polymerized using an alcohol promoted BF3 in conjunction with a combination of cocatalysts. The reaction mixture is distilled to remove the unreacted monomeric and dimeric species. The resulting product is then hydrogenated to saturate the oliogomers to provide a hydrogenated product which has a viscosity of 5 cSt. This product is distilled to provide PAO's of varying viscosity grades. The 4 cSt PAO is comprised mostly of trimers and tetramers while the 6 cSt product is comprised of trimers, tetramers, and pentamers.