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Notes: Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) was used to study a MgCl2-supported, high-mileage olefin polymerization catalyst. Anhydrous Toho MgCl2 was the starting material. Treatment with HCl at an elevated temperature, ethyl benzoate by ball-milling, p-cresol, AlEt3, and TiCl4produced a catalyst that contained a single EPR observable Ti+3 species A, which was strongly attached to the catalyst surface, had a D3h symmetry, and no other Ti+3 ion in an immediately adjacent site. Species A constitutes only 20% of all the trivalent titaniums; the remainder is EPR-silent and may be attributed to those Ti+3 ions that have adjacent sites occupied by one or more Ti+3 ions. Activation with preformed AlEt3/methyl-p-toluate complexes produced a single Ti+3 species (C) with rhombic symmetry and displaying 27Al superhyperfin splitting which has attributes for a stereospecific active site. This species is unstable under polymerization conditions and is transformed to another species with axial symmetry and solubilization. Both processes could lead to catalyst deactivation and loss of stereospecificity. Catalysts activated by AlEt3 and methyl-p-toluate separately in various sequential orders produced a multitude of EPR-observable Ti+3 species with varying degrees of motional freedom deemed detrimental to stereospecific polymerization of α-olefins.

Notes: More than a hundred propylene polymerizations were carried out with the CW catalyst (our particular MgCl2/ethylbenzoate/p-cresol/AlEt3/TiCl4 supported high mileage catalyst). Highest I.I. index (% yield of boiling heptane insoluble product) of 96.2 ± 0.9 was obtained at [Ti] = 2.4 × 10-4 M, A/T (amount of AlEt3 with 0.33 equivalent of methyl-p-toluate to amount of Ti in the catalyst) = 167 at 50°C. The I.I. values became lower when any one of these variables was changed. The I.I. values did not change with time of polymerization, indicating that both stereospecific and nonstereospecific sites were produced at the same time and polymerized monomers during the course of a polymerization. Estimates of maximum active site concentrations, [Ti*]0,Because of the complexity of the catalyst system, the active sites are designated as follows: [Ti*], active sites of all kinds at a given time; [Ti*]0 active sites of all kinds at time zero; [Ti1*], active sites of the first kind formed initially upon activation; [Ti2], active sites of the second kind, which were transformed from the former, and are responsible for olefin polymerization after the initial phase of rapid decay of activity; [Ti*]i, stereospecific active sites; [Ti*]a, nonstereospecific active sites, and [Ti*]t = [Ti*]i + [Ti*]a Similarly, the subscripts 1 and 2 for the various rate constants refer to active sites Ti1* and Ti2*, respectively. Finally [Ti] is the concentration of total titanium in the amount of catalyst used. [Ti-P] is the titanium polymer bond concentration as determined by 14CO tagging; [Ti-P] (1 h) and [Ti-P] (48 h) are the values obtained with indicated time of contact of 14CO with the polymerization mixture in the obsence of monomer. were obtained from a variation of vn-1 versus t-1. The values of [Ti*]0.i and [Ti*]0,a for the stereospecific and nonstereospecific sites, respectively, are in excellent agreement with those values of [MPB]0 (metal polymer bond concentrations at t = 0) determined earlier by radiotagging with tritiated methanol. The rate of formation of [Ti*]1 (the initial active site) is first order with respect to [Ti] and [A] with an activation energy of 12 kcal mol-1 where [A] is the AlEt3 concentration. The rate constants of propagation at 50°C are kp,i ∼ 160M-1s-1 and kp,a ∼ 11M-1s-1. The activation energy for the stereospecific propagation is about 4.1 kcal mol-1. At 50°C the rate of polymerization decreases according to second order kinetics suggesting bimolecular processes which transform one-half to one-fourth of the Ti1* site to Ti2* types depending upon experimental conditions, while the remainder decay to inactive species. The values of kt1 lie between 19 and 61M-1s-1. These processes are more complicated at 70°C involving two consecutive reactions; at low [A], the data fits better with first order decay kinetics. Comparison of the [Ti2*] values and the values of [Ti-P] obtained by 14CO tagging suggests that CO reacts primarily with the Ti2* sites and very little with the initially formed Ti1* sites. The Ti2* sites are slightly less active than the Ti1* sites having kp2,i ∼ 86M-1s-1 and kp2,a ∼ 7M-1s-1 at 50°C.

Notes: The terpolymerization composition equation has been modified to eliminate the consideration of interactions between monomers 2 and 3 when they are present in low concentration in the feed mixture relative to monomer 1. Terpolymers with a wide variety of comonomers and compositions have been synthesized and used to demonstrate that a simplified terpolymerization equation accurately predicts terpolymer composition.

Notes: Pyrolysis of polyacetylene is marked by high yields of proton-enriched products methane, ethane, ethylene, propane, polypylene, butadiene, cyclopentadiene, 1,3-pentadiene, and toluene in total amounts exceeding benzene. The activation energies for their formation are low. Polyacetylene doped with AsF5 and iodine produced these products in even higher yields of two to 17 times of undoped polymers. The dominant mechanism is thought to be random-chain scission followed by electron-proton exchange reactions. Polymethylacetylene is thermally less stable than polyacetylene. Pyrolysis gave mesitylene as the expected main product. However, as in the case of polyacetylene, large amounts of proton-enriched products were formed with moderate activation energies. (The yields of methane, propylene, and propane are nearly the same in the pyrolysis of polymethylacetylene as compared to that of polyacetylene at 923°K referenced to mesitylene and benzene, respectively.) By analogy, mechanisms involving both electron-proton and electron-methyl exchange reactions were proposed to account for the formation of all the pyrolyzates of polymethylacetylene. These reactions, not observed in the pyrolysis of polypropylene and polyisoprene, are attributable to the conjugated backbone permitting facile migrations of electrons, protons, and methyl groups.

Notes: Procedures for the synthesis of polyacetylene ([CH]x) with Mn (number average molecular weight) from 400 to about 106 have been developed. This probably represents the largest range of molecular weight (MW) obtainable for a given monomer by a single initiator system. The catalyst residue level in [CH]x can be significantly reduced by acidic-methanol purification. The very low MW polymer L-[CH]x (polyacetylenes with Mn 400-500), has the same cis crystal structure as the higher MW polymers but is less ordered along the c-axis. It is isomerized to the trans material with apparently a more compact unit cell than high MW polymers. There is annealing of crystallite which increases the longitudinal order during thermal isomerization. This process occurs more readily and with lower activation energy in L-[CH]x than for polymers with higher MW. Isomerization of high MW polymers tends to trap cis units which can result in degradation as evidenced by the formation of sp3 carbon vibrations in IR spectra. This is true even for L-[CH]x after prolonged heating. The results render credence to the proposal based on anamalous resonance Raman scattering profile that there can be very short trans segments in thermally isomerized trans-[CH]x.

Notes: The following criteria are proposed to judge whether a coordination polymerization may be diffusion controlled or not: (1) If the number-average molecular weight and polydispersity of the polymer calculated from kinetic rate constants as a function of time agree with the experimental values, the polymerization is not diffusion controlled. (2) The polymerization may be diffusion controlled if the Thiele modulus, the ratio of the characteristic diffusion time to the characteristic reaction time, is much greater than unity; if it is much smaller than unity, the polymerization is reaction controlled. (3) If an initial linear dependence of rate of polymerization on catalyst concentration changes over to a square-root dependence, the polymerization may be diffusion limited. (4) The polymerization is likely to be diffusion limited if the instantaneous rate of polymerization is proportional to the rate of particle growth when the proportionality coefficient is the surface area of the particle. Criterion (1) is a necessary and sufficient condition as stated, as its converse is not true. All the other criteria are merely necessary but not sufficient conditions. The established Ziegler-Natta catalysts have activities too low to cause diffusion limitation; the Phillips catalyst system is likely to be diffusion limited. The polydispersity of polyolefins produced with Ziegler-Natta catalysts are not the consequence of diffusion control but are the characteristics of the catalysts in their kinetics of initiation, propagation, chain transfer, and termination.

Notes: The physical state of the material obtained during the various stages of preparation of a typical MgCl2-supported, high-mileage propylene polymerization catalyst was studied by BET, mercury porosimetry, and x-ray diffraction techniques. The starting MgCl2 and the substance after HCl treatment have negligible BET surface areas. Mercury porosimetry showed that they have large pores with radii 〉 200 nm which are probably crevices between MgCl2 crystallites. The most pronounced physical changes occur during dry porcelain ball milling in the presence of ethyl benzoate. After 60 h or more of ball milling the material had a 5.1-7.3 m2 g-1 BET surface area, twice the pore surface area, and a smaller pore radius than before ball milling and a large reduction in crystallite sizes to almost ultimate dimensions. The crystallites were probably held together by complexation with ethyl benzoate in the form of large agglomerates. Subsequent reactions with p-cresol and triethyl aluminum had minor effects in further reduction of the MgCl2 crystallite size but efficiently brokeup the agglomerates. The final refluxing with TiCl4 increased the BET surface area to 110-150 m2 g-1 but may have increased the crystallite size somewhat due to cocrystallization of TiCl3 and AlCl3 with MgCl2. There may have been only 8-10 crystallites in each catalyst particle. The surface structure of the catalyst resembled those of the classical Ziegler-Natta γ-TiCl3·0.33 AlCl3 catalyst.

Notes: Thermogravimetric-mass spectrometric (TG/MS) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) techniques were used in the characterization of oxidative and nonoxidative degradation reactions of a highly crosslinked divinylbenzene/styrene copolymer. When the copolymer was subjected to a temperature-programmed air environment, four exothermic reactions were detected. The initial small exothermic reaction, starting at ca. 125°C and reaching its maximum at ca. 180°C, was presumed to result from the decomposition of peroxides. The second exothermic reaction, which overlapped with the initial one and peaked at ca. 270°C, was attributed to oxidation with a significant amount of oxygen uptake and liberation of some gaseous products such as CO2, styrene, benzaldehyde, ethylstyrene, and ethylbenzaldehyde. The strongest exothermic reaction took place at ca. 290-380°C and had its peak at ca. 360°C. Associated with this reaction was the generation of many gaseous pyrolysates, as given above. The exothermic reaction continued at a relatively constant rate from ca. 380°C to the maximum temperature of the experiment (500°C) with the release of only one gaseous product (CO2). The initial exothermic reaction can be eliminated by controlled thermal decomposition of peroxides; therefore, a more thermally stable polymer can be obtained. Exothermic reactions, starting at ca. 170°C, were observed. Pyrolytic reactions in an inert gas were also studied.

Notes: There has been continuing interest in the possible role of insoluble polymer products forming a barrier reducing rate of diffusion of monomer to the active site to cause decrease in rate of polymerization and broadening of molecular weight distribution. This possibility is more acute the higher the catalytic activity. We have now shown that diffusion limitation is unimportant for the MgCl2 support high activity Ziegler-Natta catalyst by comparing its polymerization of propylene to isotactic insoluble polypropylene and of decene-1 to isotactic soluble polydecene. The rate constant of propagation is about eight times greater for propylene while the rate constants of termination, i.e, decay of Rp, are comparable for the two monomers.

Notes: Two methods were used in an attempt to determine by radioquenching the active site concentration, [Ti*], in a MgCl2 supported high activity catalyst. For the reactions of tritium labelled methanol, the kinetic isotope effects were first determined: kH/kT = 1.63 for the total polymer and 1.67 for the isotactic polypropylene fraction. Polymerizations were quenched with an excess of isotopic CH3OH after various lengths of time, at different A/T (amount of AlEt3 with 0.33 equivalent of methyl-p-toluate to amount of Ti in the catalyst) ratios, and temperatures. From the known specific activity of tritium in CH3OH and radioassay of the polymer, value of the total metal polymer bond, [MPB], can be obtained. [MPB] increases linearly with polymerization time. Extrapolation to t = 0 gives [MPB]0, which should be close to [Ti*] because chain transfer with aluminum alkyls to produce Al-P bonds is negligible during very early stage of the polymerization. The values of [MPB]0 range from 7-30% of the total Ti; the number of MPB is nearly equally distributed in the amorphous and isotactic fractions of polypropylene in most runs. The rate of incorporation of radioactive CO into polymers produced by the MgCl2 supported high mileage catalyst is far slower than that claimed by some investigators for TiCl3 type catalysts. There is an initial rapid phase of incorporation of CO which lasts for about 1 hr of contact time. The subsequent rate of CO incorporation steadily declines, yet there is no constant maximum value of radioactivity even after 48 h of reaction in the absence of monomer. Radioquenching of polymerizations with CO was also performed at several temperatures and A/T ratios. In all cases, the maximum [Ti-P] was reached after 30-40 min of polymerization, whereas the maximum rates of polymerization, Rp,m, occurred within 3-10 min. In fact, the rate of polymerization decays to a small fraction of Rp,m after 30-40 min. Furthermore, this maximum value of [Ti-P] remains constant until the end of polymerization (t = 90 min). Therefore, isotopic CO is not reacting with the initially formed active sites Ti1*, but only with those sites, Ti2*, which predominate during the later stage of polymerization.