Polybutadiene Ziegler-Natta products

Catalysts. Iodine and its compounds ate very active catalysts for many reactions (133). The principal use is in the production of synthetic mbber via Ziegler-Natta catalysts systems. Also, iodine and certain iodides, eg, titanium tetraiodide [7720-83-4], are employed for producing stereospecific polymers, such as polybutadiene mbber (134) about 75% of the iodine consumed in catalysts is assumed to be used for polybutadiene and polyisoprene polymeri2a tion (66) (see RUBBER CHEMICALS). Hydrogen iodide is used as a catalyst in the manufacture of acetic acid from methanol (66). A 99% yield as acetic acid has been reported. In the heat stabiH2ation of nylon suitable for tire cordage, iodine is used in a system involving copper acetate or borate, and potassium iodide (66) (see Tire cords). 

The most spectacular case of products arising from a catalyst invention is that of the stereospecific hydrocarbon polymers made possible by the Ziegler-Natta work on aluminum alkyl/transition metal halide combinations around 1950. Until these catalysts existed, polypropylene, polyiso-prene, and cis-polybutadiene could not be made, and linear polyethylene could not be made cheaply. For each of these products, very large investments were needed in big plants and in market development before they were competitive with the established, big thermoplastics and rubbers. Entrance fees ran into tens of millions of dollars. 

Buna [Butadien natrium] The name has been used for the product, the process, and the company VEB Chemische Werke Buna. A process for making a range of synthetic rubbers from butadiene, developed by IG Farbenindustrie in Leverkusen, Germany, in the late 1920s. Sodium was used initially as the polymerization catalyst, hence the name. Buna S was a copolymer of butadiene with styrene Buna N a copolymer with acrylonitrile. The product was first introduced to the pubhc at the Berlin Motor Show in 1936. Today, the trade name Buna CB is used for a polybutadiene rubber made by Bunawerke Hiils using a Ziegler-Natta type process. German Patent 570, 980. 

However, no method of polymerisation known before 1954 allowed one to obtain polymers with a high regularity of structure from the most common conjugated dienes. A true breakthrough in the development of conjugated diene rubbers took place after the discovery of stereospecific polymerisation with transition metal-based coordination catalysts. From the late 1950s, a rapid development of industrial production of solution types of polybutadiene by means of polymerisation with Ziegler-Natta catalysts was observed. 

A flow scheme of m-1,4-polybutadiene production involving polymerisation with cobalt-based Ziegler-Natta catalysts in a solution process with the removal of catalyst residues from the polymer is presented in Figure 5.13 [227]. 

For reasons of space diolefin polymerization has not been included in this Chapter. Some information and pertinent references are summarized here. 1,3-E>ienes can be polymerized by lithium alkyls or by Ziegler-Natta type catalysts, containing titanium or cobalt, nickel, and neodymium. Industrially important products are 1,4-cis-polybutadiene (>2 Mt/a) and 1,4-cis-polyisoprene (>1 Mt/a). They are... 

Solution polymerization. Solution polymerization involves polymerization of a monomer in a solvent in which both the monomer (reactant) and polymer (product) are soluble. Monomers are polymerized in a solution that can be homogeneous or heterogeneous. Many free radical polymerizations are conducted in solution. Ionic polymerizations are almost exclusively solution processes along with many Ziegler-Natta polymerizations. Important water-soluble polymers that can be prepared in aqueous solution include poly(acrylic acid), polyacrylamide, poly(vinyl alcohol), and poly(iV-vinylpyrrolidinone). Poly(methyl methacrylate), polystyrene, polybutadiene, poly(vinyl chloride), and poly(vinylidene fluoride) can be polymerized in organic solvents. 

The development of the Ziegler-Natta catalysts has affected rubber production as well. Eirst, it facilitated the synthesis of all-c/s polyisoprene and the demonstration that its properties were nearly identical to those of natural rubber. (A small amount of synthetic natural rubber is produced today.) Second, a new kind of synthetic rubber was developed all-c/s polybutadiene. It now ranks second in production after styrene-butadiene rubber. 

This group of Ziegler-Natta catalysts is stereospecific for the polymerisation of a-olefins and 1,3-dienes the products are mainly isotactic polyolefins (polypropylene, polystyrene, and so on) and 3 5-l,4-polydienes (polybutadiene, polyisoprene, and so on). 

In anionic solution systems the feed stocks are typically dried over various types of dessicants because the systems are sensitive to water contamination. When using continuous anionic solution polymerization systems, it is necessary to employ low (ppm) concentrations of a chain-transfer agent in order to discourage gelation and fouling 1,2-butadiene is often used for this purpose in commercial applications. Alkyl-lithium-initiated polybutadiene is less prone to contain gel and does not contain the heavy metal catalyst residues associated with Ziegler-Natta catalyzed products. 

Yakubchik and his co-workers (1956, 1959 and 1962) have preferred to separate the acid derivatives by means of partition chromatography and compared the results with those obtained from an artificial mixture of those acids expected to be present. In the case of Ziegler-Natta catalyzed polybutadienes with less than 1% 1,2- units the presence of 1,4-1,2-1,4 sequences was indicated by the identification of some 1,2,4-butane tricarboxylic acid. Examination of their chromatograms suggests, at most, just a trace of any hexane tetra-carboxylic acid so that only a very small amount, if any, of 1,4-1,2-1,2-1,4 structures were present. Furthermore, no trace of any 1,2,3-propane tricarboxylic acid was found so there was no positive sign of any branching at the a-methylene position. On the other hand in the case of rubidium-catalyzed poly butadienes, which, like other polybutadienes prepared by the use of alkali metal catalyst systems, have a high 1,2- content, both hexane tetracarboxylic acid and 1,2,3-propane tricarboxylic acid were present in the ultimate products of ozonolysis. 

Sodium-catalyzed polybutadienes contain a preponderance of 1,2-structures but since there are also significant quantities of other microstructures the products are not stereoregular. Since the discovery of the Ziegler-Natta catalyst systems both syndiotactic and isotactic 1,2-polybutadienes have been prepared. The syndiotactic polymers are obtained by the use of aluminium triethyl and halogen-free compounds of vanadium, molybdenum and cobalt, particularly the acetyl acetonates. 

ROMP to provide polybutenamer, a product with the structure of a fully 1,4-polybutadiene. While this microstructure differs from polybutadiene prepared by radical, anionic or Ziegler-Natta-type polymerizations, no compelling performance advantage has been reported. Due to the added relative monomer cost of COD and CDDT with respect to butadiene, there has been no motivation to develop a polybutenamer product. 

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