| Abstract: | During the development of an anionic butadiene telomerization process consisting of two stages, initiator preparation and telomerization, in a hydrocarbon solvent which contained a chain-transfer agent, we found that a small amount of oxygen accidentally introduced caused an unusually large decrease in the telomer viscosity. Based on the degree of such decrease due to the addition of oxygen at the two stages and based on the rather modest reactivity of oxygen with organosodium compounds, we concluded that free oxygen was catalytically involved in the telomerization process. The results of kinetic and transmetalation studies indicated that only the chain-transfer reaction was accelerated catalytically by free oxygen. |
