Olefins coordination polymerization branching

Coordination polymerization Can engineer polymers with specific tacticities based on the catalyst system Can limit branching reactions Polymerization can occur at low pressures and modest temperatures Otherwise non-polymerizable monomers (e.g., propylene) can be polymerized Mainly applicable to olefinic monomers... 

Coordination copolymerization of ethylene with small amounts of an a-olefin such as 1-butene, 1-hexene, or 1-octene results in the equivalent of the branched, low-density polyethylene produced by radical polymerization. The polyethylene, referred to as linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), has controlled amounts of ethyl, n-butyl, and n-hexyl branches, respectively. Copolymerization with propene, 4-methyl-1-pentene, and cycloalk-enes is also practiced. There was little effort to commercialize linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) until 1978, when gas-phase technology made the economics of the process very competitive with the high-pressure radical polymerization process [James, 1986]. The expansion of this technology was rapid. The utility of the LLDPE process Emits the need to build new high-pressure plants. New capacity for LDPE has usually involved new plants for the low-pressure gas-phase process, which allows the production of HDPE and LLDPE as well as polypropene. The production of LLDPE in the United States in 2001 was about 8 billion pounds, the same as the production of LDPE. Overall, HDPE and LLDPE, produced by coordination polymerization, comprise two-thirds of all polyethylenes. 

Butene and other secondary olefins do not readily copolymerize with ethylene, and they may even tend to inhibit ethylene polymerization. This observation probably indicates steric crowding. For example, secondary olefins might be able to coordinate to the catalytic site, but not insert in the polymer chain. Alternatively, they may insert but give chains that are resistant to further insertion of ethylene. Similarly, a-olefins with a branch near the double bond, such as isobutylene or a-olefins with branches in the third position, also react poorly [403]. Examples of the differences in reactivity of the various a-olefins are shown in Table 8. 

Another example of ionic graft copolymerization is a reaction carried out on pendant olefinic groups using Ziegler-Natta catalysts in a coordinated anionic-type polymerization. The procedure consists of two steps. In the first, diethylaluminum hydride is added across the double bonds. In the second the product is treated with a transition metal halide. This yields an active catalyst for polymerizations of a-olefms. By this method polyethylene and polypropylene can be grafted to butadiene styrene copolymers. Propylene monomer polymerization results in formations of isotactic polymeric branches ... 

For a monodisperse polymer sample, d = 1. The ranges of d values change drastically with the different mechanisms of polymerization. The values of d are 1.01-1.05 in living polymerization (anionic, cationic, living free radical, etc.), around 1.5 in condensation polymerization or coupling termination of polymerization, around 2 in disproportionation reactions on polymerization, 2-5 for high-conversion olefins, 5-10 in self-acceleration on common free radical polymerization, 8-30 in coordination polymerization, and 20-50 in branching reactions on polymerization. 

Ostoja Starzewski, K.A., Witte, J., Reichert, K.H., Vasiliou, G. (1988) Linear and branched polyethylenes by new coordination catalysts, in W. Kaminsky and H. Sinn (eds), "Transition Metals and Organometallics as Catalysts for Olefin Polymerization", Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 349-360. 

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