Copolymerization of ethylene and 1‐decene by metallocenes: Direct comparison of Me2C(Cp)(Flu)ZrMe2 with Et(Cp)(Flu)ZrMe2

Copolymerizations of ethylene with 1‐decene have been carried out by using two syndiospecific metallocenes synthesized by modifying the bridge: highly syndiospecific isopropylidene(1‐η⁵‐cyclopentadienyl)(1‐η⁵‐fluorenyl)‐dimethylzirconium (Me₂C(Cp)(Flu)ZrMe₂, 1 ) and less syndiospecific (1‐fluorenyl‐2‐cyclopentadienylethane)‐dimethylzirconium (Et(Cp)(Flu)ZrMe₂, 2 ), in the presence of [Ph₃C][B(C₆F₅)₄] as a cocatalyst. The ethano bridged 2 compound of smaller dihedral angle showed much higher activity than 1 compound. The catalytic activities of the two compounds were enhanced about twice when a suitable amount of 1‐decene comonomer is present in the feed. The compound 1 showed better comonomer reactivity than 2 . The properties (T_m, density, and crystallinity) of copolymers seem not to be affected by the type of bridge of the metallocenes, and mainly depend on 1‐decene content in the copolymer.     

二茂二氯化钛或锆与二茂基氯化钐复合催化乙烯聚合

分别以二茂二氯化钛(Cp2TiCl2)和二茂二氯化锫(Cp2ZrCl2)与钐茂金属催化剂复合组成催化体系，并以甲基铝氧烷为助催化剂，进行宽分子量分布聚乙烯合成研究。研究发现与使用Cp2TiCl2和二(甲基茂基)氯化钐复合体系相比，使用其与二(特丁基茂基)氯化钐[(t—BuCp)2SmCl]复合体系能得到具有较高粘均分子量的聚乙烯。同样，使用Cp2ZrCl2与(t—BuCp)2SmCl复合体系也能得到具有较高粘均分子量的聚乙烯。且使用含(t-BuCp)2SmCl复合体系得到分子量分布指数达3．5以上的聚乙烯。     

Comparison of gas‐ and liquid‐phase polymerization of propylene with heterogeneous metallocene catalyst

Sorption measurements are executed to study the sorption behavior of propylene in a semicrystalline polymer. Decreasing values for the Flory–Huggins interaction parameter with increasing temperature are obtained. Large deviations are found, especially at higher temperatures, compared to data from the literature. Propylene is polymerized in liquid and gaseous propylenes with Me₂Si[Ind]₂ZrCl₂/MAO/SiO₂ as the metallocene catalyst. Lower relative reaction rates are found in the gas phase compared to the experiments in the liquid phase. The activation energies from the experiments in both phases are on the same order of magnitude. However, the literature versus experimental sorption data has a large effect on the determined kinetic parameters. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 81: 1193–1206, 2001     

Poly(pent‐1‐ene) Synthesized with the Syndiospecific Catalyst i‐Pr(Cp)(9‐Flu)ZrCl2/MAO

1‐Pentene was polymerized with the syndiospecific catalyst system i‐PrC(Cp)(9‐fluorenyl)ZrCl₂/MAO. The molar mass of the resulting polymers depends strongly on the reaction temperature and decreases from M̄_w = 126 000 at 0°C to M̄_w = 46 000 at 100°C, but is more or less independent of the monomer and the MAO concentration. The influence of reaction temperature and concentrations of MAO and monomer on the type of end‐groups generated during the chain termination, as well as on the type of stereoerror, was investigated. The degree of tacticity was dependent on the polymerization temperature with [rrrr] > 0.99 at 0°C and [rrrr] = 0.75 at 100°C.     

Syndiospecific polymerization of styrene based on dichlorobis(1,3‐diketonato)titanium/methylaluminoxane catalyst system: effects of substituents on catalyst activity

Dichlorobis(substituted‐1,3‐diketonato)titanium complexes 4a–e have been synthesized and were combined with methylaluminoxane as cocatalyst to be employed in the polymerization of styrene. The polystyrenes produced have high syndiotacticities of 94.0–98.2%. The substituents at either 2‐ or 1,3‐positions of 1,3‐diketones can noticeably influence catalyst activities. The catalytic activities of 4a–c bearing 2‐substituents and 4e bearing 1,3‐diphenyl groups are tenfold higher than that of 4d bearing 1,3‐dimethyl groups. The effects of polymerization conditions on the catalyst activities and the syndiotacticities of the polystyrene produced have been examined. © 2000 Society of Chemical Industry     

悬浮聚合法制取不同分子量级别的聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯

采用粉状MgCO3 作为分散剂 ,悬浮聚合制取了分子量从 2 4× 10 4 ～ 2 5 4× 10 4 的聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯。考察了温度、引发剂种类和浓度、分子量调节剂、转化率对聚合物分子量的影响规律 ,用粘度法测量了聚合物聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯 (PMMA)的分子量。结果表明 :温度的升高、引发剂浓度的增大、分子量调节剂的加入都会导致分子量的减小 ,随着转化率的提高 ,聚合物的分子量增大。在同等条件下 ,引发剂过氧化苯甲酰 (BPO)聚合所得的分子量较偶氮二异丁腈 (AIBN)高。通过实验 ,得到了满足作者需求的分子量 (96× 10 4 ～ 10 0× 10 4 )的聚合物的聚合条件为 :分散剂MgCO3 用量 1% ,单体∶水相 =1∶2 5 (质量比 ) ,引发剂BPO浓度 0 5 % ,反应温度 70℃ ,反应时间 3h。     

N-(n-Alkyl)-2-pyridinemethanimine mediated atom transfer radical polymerization of lauryl methacrylate: Effect of length of alkyl group

The article describes the polymerization of lauryl methacrylate (LMA) using Cu(I)Br as catalyst for atom transfer radical polymerization in conjunction with N-(n-propyl) [PPMI]/(n-hexyl) [HPMI]/(n-octyl) [OPMI]-2-pyridinemethanimine as complex ligands. The polymerization of LMA was investigated in bulk and solution (toluene as solvent) using Cu(I)Br as catalyst, N-(n-alkyl)-2-pyridinemethanimine as ligands and ethyl-2-bromo isobutyrate (EBiB) as initiator. The ratio of LMA : CuBr : Ligand : EBiB was kept constant in all the polymerizations. In bulk polymerization, the solubility of the catalyst complex increased with increasing the length of alkyl chain on the ligand from propyl to octyl and also gave polymers with narrow molecular weight distribution. The PDI was further narrowed by using OPMI as ligand and toluene was used as solvent. The kinetics of polymerization was also analyzed and it clearly shows that % conversion increased with time. Increase in molecular weight with % conversion without affecting PDI clearly show that the system is living and living nature can be controlled by increasing the length of alkyl group. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

Partially hydrolyzed trimethylaluminum (PHT) as heterogeneous cocatalyst for the polymerization of olefins with metallocene complexes

A method for the preparation of a novel heterogeneous cocatalyst, partially hydrolyzed trimethylaluminum (PHT), has been developed and optimized for ethylene polymerization reactions. It is possible to generate PHT on nearly any support without much loss of catalyst activity. The carrier material can be SiO₂, AlF₃, B₂O₃, starch, cellulose, active carbon, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, etc. This new type of partially hydrolyzed trimethylaluminum (PHT) is synthesized by reacting such a carrier material with trimethylaluminum (TMA) in toluene to block all surface Lewis basic centers that could poison a cationic metallocene polymerization center. The subsequent addition of a calculated amount of water gives a heterogeneous PHT that is different from the common methylalumoxane (MAO). Various PHT cocatalysts were studied by ¹³C and ²⁷Al MAS NMR, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and infrared spectroscopy (IR), and compared with solid MAO. Surface areas and porosities were determined according to the BET method. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 80: 454–466, 2001     

Control of molecular weight distribution in propylene polymerization with Ziegler–Natta/metallocene catalyst mixtures

Propylene polymerization was investigated with a sequential addition of Ziegler–Natta and metallocene catalysts. From the fact that the molecular weights of polypropylene (PP) produced with Ziegler–Natta and with metallocene catalysts differ, it was possible to control the molecular weight distribution (MWD) of PP with a sequential addition of methylaluminoxane and rac-ethylenebis(indenyl)zirconium dichloride followed by triethylaluminum and magnesium dichloride-supported titanium tetrachloride catalyst. The obtained PP exhibited a wide MWD curve with shoulder peak. The position and height of each peak was controlled with the variation of polymerization time for each catalyst as well as the amount of each catalyst. The MWD of PP prepared with sequential addition of catalysts was much wider than that of PP obtained from each catalyst. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 67:2213–2222, 1998     

Propylene polymerization with rac‐(EBl)Zr(NC4H8)2 cocatalyzed by MAO or AlR3 and anionic compounds

Propylene polymerization was carried out using an ansa‐zirconocene pyrrolidide based catalytic system of racemic ethylene‐1,2‐bis(1‐indenyl)zirconium dipyrrolidide [rac‐(EBI)Zr(NC₄H₈)₂ or (rac‐1)] and methylaluminoxane (MAO) or a noncoordinating anion. In situ generation of cationic alkylzirconium species was also investigated by NMR‐scale reactions of rac‐1 and MAO, and rac‐1, AlMe₃, and [Ph₃C] [B(C₆F₅)₄]. In the NMR‐scale reaction using CD₂Cl₂ as a solvent, a small amount of MAO ([Al]/[Zr] = 30) was enough to completely activate rac‐1 to give cationic methylzirconium cations that can polymerize propylene. The resulting isotactic polypropylene (iPP) isolated in this reaction showed a meso pentad value of 91.3%. In a similar NMR‐scale reaction rac‐1 was stoichiometrically methylated by AlMe₃ to give rac‐(EBI)ZrMe₂, and the introduction of [Ph₃C] [B(C₆F₅)₄] into the reaction mixture containing rac‐(EBI)ZrMe₂ led to in situ generation of cationic [rac‐(EBI)Zr(μ‐Me)₂AlMe₂]⁺ species that can polymerize propylene to give iPP showing a meso pentad value of 94.7%. The catalyst system rac‐1/MAO exhibited an increase of activity as the [Al]/[Zr] ratio increased within an experimental range ([Al]/[Zr] = 930–6511). The meso pentad values of the resulting iPPs were in the range of 83.2–87.5%. The catalytic activity showed a maximum (R _p = 6.66 × 10⁶ g PP/mol Zr h atm) when [Zr] was 84.9 × 10⁻⁶ mol/L in the propylene polymerization according to the concentration of catalyst. MAO‐free polymerization of propylene was performed by a rac‐1/AlR₃/noncoordinating anion catalytic system. The efficiency of AlR₃ was decreased in the order of AlMe₃ (R _p = 13.0 × 10⁶ g PP/mol Zr h atm) > Al(i‐Bu)₃ (8.9 × 10⁶) > AlPr₃ (8.8 × 10⁶) > Al(i‐Bu)₂H (8.4 × 10⁶) > AlEt₃ (8.4 × 10⁶). The performance of the noncoordinating anion as a cocatalyst was on the order of [HNMePh₂][B(C₆F₅)₄] (R _p = 13.0 × 10⁶ g PP/mol Zr h atm) > [HNMe₂Ph][B(C₆F₅)₄] (10.8 × 10⁶) > [Ph₃C][B(C₆F₅)₄] (8.4 × 10⁶) > [HNEt₂Ph][B(C₆F₅)₄] (7.8 × 10⁶). The properties of iPP were characterized by ¹³C‐NMR, FTIR, DSC, GPC, and viscometry. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 71: 875–885, 1999     

Study of propylene polymerization catalyzed by a spherical MgCl2‐supported Ziegler–Natta catalyst system: The effects of external donors

Spherical MgCl₂‐supported Ziegler–Natta catalysts containing internal donors, such as diethyl phthalate, diisobutyl phthalate, and di‐n‐octyl phthalate, have been prepared. The effects of external donors, phenyltrimethoxysilane, phenyltriethoxysilane, and diphenyldimethoxylsilane, on the propylene polymerization catalyzed by these catalysts were studied. The results indicate that the external donors not only led to an increase in the isotactic index, but also affected the morphology of resultant polymer particles. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 95: 738–742, 2005     

Bottleneck for reactive molar mass in the polymerization of propylene oxide initiated with potassium t‐butoxide

The anionic polymerization of propylene oxide was investigated with potassium t‐butoxide as an initiator, and the solvent hexamethyl phosphoric triamide was used in controlling experiments. The relative molar mass limit of the products was determined as about 2700, and the C?C double bond was found to exist by NMR. In situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to monitor the whole polymerization process until the absorbance reached a constant value and the system reached equilibrium. However, propylene oxide still existed in the system, and alkoxide was detected in the reaction system by ²³Na‐NMR. On the basis of these results, we deduced that the residual alkoxide was not active enough to initiate propylene oxide polymerization in the near end of the polymerization. Therefore, there might have been another factor that limited the increase of the relative molar mass of poly(propylene oxide) in addition to chain transfer. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Investigations of the initial state polymerization of propylene with Ziegler–Natta catalysts in slurry

The initial state polymerization of propylene with Ziegler–Natta catalysts has been investigated and discussed at very low polymerization yields under adiabatic industrial prepolymerization conditions in diluted slurry regarding the effects of significant process parameters like monomer pressure, aluminum alkyl, and donor kind and concentration including the morphology of the catalyst/polymer particles formed. A sharp temperature increase in the first minutes of the initial state polymerization is followed by a temperature maximum and a slow decrease. With cocatalyst triethyl aluminum (TEAL), high prepolymerization yields were already achieved at a molar ratio TEAL/Ti of 3.0, remaining about constant until ratios of at least 300. The external donor dicyclopentyl dimethoxy silane leads to higher polymerization yields than the donor cyclohexyl dimethoxymethyl silane in the initial state polymerization too; however, both show a remarkable decreasing effect on polymerization yield above a specific molar ratio donor/Ti obviously correlated with the bulkiness of the alkyl groups. The particle size of the catalyst and the catalyst/prepolymer particles is increasing with polymerization yield until about 22 g PP/g Cat with particles almost perfectly spherical. The particle size distribution is rather broad at lower prepolymerization stages but unifying with lower polymerization rates at higher polymerization times. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007     

Preparation of novel microspherical MgCl2‐based titanium catalyst for propylene polymerization

Lowering the particle size of support is one of methods to reduce breakage of supported catalyst during polymerization, which may cause serious problems for fine polymer particles from those broken catalysts. Microspheric MgCl₂ support could be obtained by emulsion way, but we found that they easily aggregated after emulsification and they are difficult to keep good spherical morphology. Up until now, hardly paper on the morphology improvement of micro size supports has been published. With the addition of an amount of Poly(propylene glycol)(PPG), microspheric MgCl₂ supports with good morphology were obtained. 1, 3, 15, 35, 80% PPG were added, respectively, and the results of SEM study on obtained particles showed that appropriate addition of PPG obviously improved the morphology of supports. The optimist dosage was 3% in our experiment and the activity of catalyst supported on obtained support was 32.3 kg PP/g cat h. The function of PPG was explored preliminarily. In spite of the improvement of morphology the activity of supported catalyst was decreased gradually compared to those without PPG. So the further XRD and IR analysis were carried out to find reasons. The results indicated that PPG might plug pores of support and interfere with the reaction between supports and TiCl₄. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Controlled Degradation of Poly(propylene) in Industrial Extruders

Summary: The main objective of this work was to study the controlled degradation of PP in industrial extruders at different operating conditions. Firstly, the investigation of certain key polymer properties, such as the MI and the MWD, revealed that the changes undergone by the polymer resin during the reactive extrusion depend strongly on the operating conditions. In the absence of oxygen, the results indicated that spontaneous thermal and/or mechanical degradation were not very important. Therefore, resin properties were not expected to change during extrusion if no peroxide was fed into the extruder, in the absence of oxygen. On the other hand, in the presence of oxygen, MWD analysis showed that the MWD could be shifted towards higher or lower molecular weights, indicating that both chain growth and chain scission were possible during extrusion. Finally, simple expressions are presented here in order to allow for the monitoring and control of the important final properties of the extruded resin.

The molecular weight distribution of polymer powder and polymer pellets during extrusion.     

聚合条件对P（AN-co—IA）分子质量分布影响的研究

采用凝胶色谱（GPC）法测定了丙烯腈与衣康酸共聚物P（AN—co—IA）的重均分子质量和数均分子质量,并通过已知聚丙烯腈的重均分子质量数据和数均分子质量数据对所测的分子质量进行校正,进一步计算得到共聚物的多分散系数。同时研究了引发剂用量、单体浓度、聚合温度、聚合时间对P（AN—co—IA）分子质量分布的影响。研究结果表明,P（AN-co-IA）分子质量分布随引发剂用量的增大、聚合单体浓度的增加而变宽,与聚合反应温度、聚合反应时间无明显的变化趋势。     

Emulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate using the reverse iodine transfer polymerization (RITP) technique

The targeted molecular weight poly (methyl methacrylate) [PMMA] latex was successfully prepared in the presence of 4,4-azobis(4-cyanopentanoic acid) (ACPA) and various surfactants using the reversible iodine transfer polymerization (RITP)-emulsion polymerization at 85 °C for 7 h in the absence of light. The properties of PMMA particles upon the various ratios of ACPA to iodine within the concentration ranges of ACPA (1.0–2.0 mmol) and iodine (0.1–1.0 mmol) with various surfactants were investigated by means of GPC, SEM and particle analyzer. The weight-average molecular weight and the conversion increased with the ratio of [ACPA]/[I₂], but no correlation between the particle size and the [ACPA]/[I₂] ratio was obtained. The initiator, ACPA, was important in the formation of PMMA spherical particles, while molecular iodine dominated in controlling the molecular weight, inhibition period and the conversion. In overall, the appropriate concentration of ACPA, iodine and anionic or anionic with non-ionic surfactants controls the targeted molecular weight less than 100,000 g/mol and the enhanced conversion higher than 90% along with particle stability.     

Gas phase polymerization of 1,3‐butadiene with supported neodymium‐based catalyst: Investigation of molecular weight

The gas phase polymerization of 1,3‐butadiene (Bd), with supported catalyst Nd(naph)₃/Al₂Et₃Cl₃/Al(i‐Bu)₃ or/and Al(i‐Bu)₂H, was investigated. The polymerization of Bd with neodymium‐based catalysts yielded cis‐1,4 (97.2–98.9%) polybutadiene with controllable molecular weight (MW varying from 40 to 80 × 10⁴ g mol^?1). The effects of reaction temperature, reaction time, Nd(naph)₃/Al(i‐Bu)₃ molar ratio, and cocatalyst component on the catalytic activity and molecular weight of polymers were examined. It was found that there are two kinds of active sites in the catalyst system, which mainly influenced the MW and molecular weight distribution of polybutadiene. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 1945–1949, 2004     

Ethylene and Propylene Polymerization Using In Situ Supported Me2Si(Ind)2ZrCl2 Catalyst: Experimental and Theoretical Study

Summary: Me₂Si(Ind)₂ZrCl₂ was in situ immobilized onto SMAO and used for ethylene and propylene polymerization in the presence of TEA or TIBA as cocatalyst. The catalytic system Me₂Si(Ind)₂ZrCl₂/SMAO exhibited different behavior depending on the amount and nature of the alkylaluminum employed and on the monomer type. The catalyst activity was nearly 0.4 kg polymer · g cat^?1 · h^?1 with both cocatalysts for propylene polymerization. Similar activities were observed for ethylene polymerization in the presence of TIBA. When ethylene was polymerized using TEA at an Al/Zr molar ratio of 250, the activity was 10 times higher. Polyethylenes made by in situ supported or homogeneous catalyst systems had practically the same melting point (T_m). On the other hand, poly(propylenes) made using in situ supported catalyst systems had a slightly lower T_m than poly(propylenes) made using homogeneous catalyst systems. The nature and amount of the alkylaluminum also influenced the molar mass. The poly(propylene) molar mass was higher when TIBA was the cocatalyst. The opposite behavior was observed for the polyethylenes. Concerning the alkylaluminum concentration, the molar mass of the polymers decreased as the amount of TEA increased. In the presence of TIBA, the polyethylene's molar mass was almost the same, independent of the alkylaluminum concentration, and the poly(propylene) molar mass increased with increasing amounts of cocatalyst. The deconvolution of the GPC curves showed 2 peaks for the homogeneous system and 3 peaks for the heterogeneous in situ supported system. The only exception was observed when TEA was used at an Al/Zr molar ratio of 500, where the best fit was obtained with 2 peaks. Based on the GPC deconvolution results and on the theoretical modeling, a proposal for the active site structure was made.

Molar mass distribution deconvolution of polyethylene prepared with the system Me₂Si(Ind)₂ZrCl₂/SMAO/TIBA with 500 mol/mol of alkylaluminum as cocatalyst.     

Modified frontal polymerization of poly(methyl methacrylate)

In this work, we propose a modified frontal polymerization method to build a uniform reaction front by gradually immersing the reacting mixture in a thermal bath. This scheme allows uniform materials to be obtained with nearly constant molecular weights and polydispersities and a low residual monomer concentration. A comparative study of the molecular weight distributions of poly(methyl methacrylate)s obtained by bulk polymerization, frontal polymerization, and frontal polymerization with the proposed gradual immersion is presented. Samples obtained by these methods show that materials obtained by bulk polymerization and by frontal polymerization are less uniform than those obtained by frontal polymerization with gradual immersion in a thermal bath. The obtained uniformity is directly related to a stabilizing effect of the reaction front by the gradual immersion of the reactor in a constant‐temperature bath and to a reduction in the reaction rate promoted by a moderate transfer agent concentration. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010