3,4-Polyisoprene catalysts

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). 

From the time that isoprene was isolated from the pyrolysis products of natural mbber (1), scientific researchers have been attempting to reverse the process. In 1879, Bouchardat prepared a synthetic mbbery product by treating isoprene with hydrochloric acid (2). It was not until 1954—1955 that methods were found to prepare a high i i -polyisoprene which dupHcates the stmcture of natural mbber. In one method (3,4) a Ziegler-type catalyst of tri alkyl aluminum and titanium tetrachloride was used to polymerize isoprene in an air-free, moisture-free hydrocarbon solvent to an all i7j -l,4-polyisoprene. A polyisoprene with 90% 1,4-units was synthesized with lithium catalysts as early as 1949 (5). 

With the avadabihty of polymerization catalysts, extensive efforts were devoted to developing economical processes for manufacture of isoprene. Several synthetic routes have been commercialized. With natural mbber as an alternative, the ultimate value of the polymer was more or less dictated by that market. The first commercial use of isoprene in the United States started in 1940. It was used as a minor comonomer with isobutylene for the preparation of butyl mbber. Polyisoprene was commercialized extensively in the 1960s (6). In the 1990s isoprene is used almost exclusively as a monomer for polymerization (see ELASTOLffiRS,SYNTHETic-POLYisoPRENE). 

Al—Ti Catalyst for cis-l,4-PoIyisoprene. Of the many catalysts that polymerize isoprene, four have attained commercial importance. One is a coordination catalyst based on an aluminum alkyl and a vanadium salt which produces /n j -l,4-polyisoprene. A second is a lithium alkyl which produces 90% i7j -l,4-polyisoprene. Very high (99%) i7j -l,4-polyisoprene is produced with coordination catalysts consisting of a combination of titanium tetrachloride, TiCl, plus a trialkyl aluminum, R Al, or a combination of TiCl with an alane (aluminum hydride derivative) (86—88). 

The revolutionary development of stereospecific polymerization by the Ziegler-Natta catalysts also resulted ia the accomplishment ia the 1950s of a 100-year-old goal, the synthesis of i7j -l,4-polyisoprene (natural mbber). This actually led to the immediate termination of the U.S. Government Synthetic Rubber Program ia 1956 because the technical problem of dupHcating the molecular stmcture of natural mbber was thereby solved, and also because the mbber plantations of the Far East were again available. 

Between the 1920s when the initial commercial development of mbbery elastomers based on 1,3-dienes began (5—7), and 1955 when transition metal catalysts were fkst used to prepare synthetic polyisoprene, researchers in the U.S. and Europe developed emulsion polybutadiene and styrene—butadiene copolymers as substitutes for natural mbber. However, the tire properties of these polymers were inferior to natural mbber compounds. In seeking to improve the synthetic material properties, research was conducted in many laboratories worldwide, especially in the U.S. under the Rubber Reserve Program. 

The discovery by Ziegler that ethylene and propylene can be polymerized with transition-metal salts reduced with trialkyl aluminum gave impetus to investigations of the polymerization of conjugated dienes (7—9). In 1955, synthetic polyisoprene (90—97% tij -l,4) was prepared using two new catalysts. A transition-metal catalyst was developed at B. E. Goodrich (10) and an alkaU metal catalyst was developed at the Ekestone Tke Rubber Co. (11). Both catalysts were used to prepare tij -l,4-polyisoprene on a commercial scale (9—19). 

Al Ti in the range of 0.9—1.0 appeared optimum for i7j -l,4-polyisoprene yield (20). Other factors such as catalyst preparation temperature, influence of the R group in the alkyl aluminum compound (R Al), and catalyst aging have been extensively studied (16,17). Another variable studied was the effect of... 

Polyisoprenes of 94—98% as-1,4 content were obtained with lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, and other rare-earth metal ions (eg, LnCl ) with trialkyl aluminum (R3AI) (34). Also, a NdCl 2THF(C2H3)3A1 catalyst has been used to prepare 95% <7j -l,4-polyisoprene (35). <7j -l,4-Polyisoprene of 98% as-1,4 and 2% 3,4 content was obtained with organoalurninum—lanthariide catalysts, NdCl where L is an electron-donor ligand such as ethyl alcohol or butyl alcohol, or a long-chain alcohol, and is 1 to 4 (36). 

Amorphous (most likely atactic) 3,4-polyisoprene of 94—100% 3,4-microstmcture was prepared with a (C2H 3A1—Ti(0—/ -C Hy) catalyst (11). Crystalline 3,4-polyisoprene containing about 70% 3,4-units and about 30% i7j -l,4-microstmcture was prepared using a catalyst derived from iron acetyl acetonate, trialkyl aluminum, and an amine in benzene (37). However, this polyisoprene contained gel and was obtained in poor yield. Essentially gel-free crystallizable 3,4-polyisoprene of 70—85% 3,4-microstmcture with the remainder being cis-1,4 microstmcture was prepared in conversions of greater than 95% with a water-modified tri alkyl aluminum, ferric acetyl acetonate, and 1,10-phenanthroline catalyst (38). The 3,4-polyisoprene is stereoregular and beheved to be syndiotactic or isotactic. 

Alfin Catalysts. Alfin catalysts (44,45) give polyisoprenes of high /ram-1,4 microstmcture (46). For example, a typical Alfin catalyst gives polyisoprene of 52% /ram-1,4, 27% cis-1,4, 16% 3,4, and 5% 1,2 content (ir analysis) (46). One type of Alfin catalyst consists of aHylsodium, sodium isopropoxide, and sodium chloride (47,48). Because of the mixed microstmcture polyisoprene produced, Alfin catalysts are not used commercially. 

Alkali Metal Catalysts. The polymerization of isoprene with sodium metal was reported in 1911 (49,50). In hydrocarbon solvent or bulk, the polymerization of isoprene with alkaU metals occurs heterogeneously, whereas in highly polar solvents the polymerization is homogeneous (51—53). Of the alkah metals, only lithium in bulk or hydrocarbon solvent gives over 90% cis-1,4 microstmcture. Sodium or potassium metals in / -heptane give no cis-1,4 microstmcture, and 48—58 mol % /ram-1,4, 35—42% 3,4, and 7—10% 1,2 microstmcture (46). Alkali metals in benzene or tetrahydrofuran with crown ethers form solutions that readily polymerize isoprene however, the 1,4 content of the polyisoprene is low (54). For example, the polyisoprene formed with sodium metal and dicyclohexyl-18-crown-6 (crown ether) in benzene at 10°C contains 32% 1,4-, 44% 3,4-, and 24% 1,2-isoprene units (54). 

Stereoregular polyisoprene is obtained when Zieglar-Natta catalysts or anionic initiators are used. The most important coordination catalyst is a-TiCls cocatalyzed with aluminum alkyls. The polymerization rate and cis... 

The synthesis of transtactic structures is based on catalysts in which the transition metal belongs to the 3d block (Ti, Cr, V, Ni). Particular emphasis is devoted to the synthesis of trans butadiene/piperylene copolymers and to their blends with synthetic cis-l,4-polyisoprene, with the aim of increasing the "green strength" of the latter. 

The catalyst activity is so high that uranium concentration lower than 0.1 millimoles per liter allows a complete conversion of butadiene to be obtained in a few hours, at 20°C, The transfer reaction of uranium based catalyst is similar to that of conventional 3d-block elements (titanium, cobalt, nickel) so that the molecular weight of the polymer is affected by polymerization temperature, polymerization time and monomer concentration in the customary way. This is in contrast, as we shall see later on, to some catalysts based on 4 f-block elements. Uranium based catalysts are able to polymerize isoprene and other dienes to high cis polymers the cis content of polyisoprene is 94%, somewhat inferior to titanium based catalysts. In contrast, with 3d-block elements an "all cis", random butadiene-isoprene... 

Polymerised isoprene. Naturally-occurring polyisoprenes are natural rubber (cA-form) and gutta percha (trans- form). The use of stereo specific catalysts has made possible the manufacture of synthetic cA-polyisoprene and fraws-polyisoprene both of which are now available commercially. 

Polybutadiene and polyisoprene are produced and used mainly as synthetic rubber on an industrial scale by using transition metal catalysts, especially titanium- and nickel-based ones. By contrast, only minor attention has been paid to the palladium-catalyzed polymerization of butadiene. A mixture of 1,2-polybutadiene and trans- and c/s-l, 4-polybutadiene was obtained by using PdCl2 as a catalyst (7, 2). 

Titanocene (Cp2Ti(C6H2(R1) PB, polyisoprene, SBS in cyclohexane (5 wt.%) Catalyst (di-p-tolyl- Asahi Kase Kogyo 32 (1987)... 

The mechanism for this catalyst for the hydrogenation of ds-l,4-polyisoprene (CPIP) is slightly different [69]. As there was no clear evidence that coordination of hydrogen occurs prior to the coordination of C=C to the RuHCl(CO)(PCy3)2, there may be two possible pathways for the hydrogenation of CPIP in the presence of Ru(CH=CH(Ph))Cl(CO)(PCy3)2, namely an unsaturated path and a hydride path. The catalytic mechanism for these two pathways is represented in Scheme 19.6. 

The hydrogenation of unsaturated polymers like polyisoprene is based on the mobility of a soluble catalyst in the reaction medium. In the hydrogenation of such unsaturated polymers the soluble catalyst brings its active site to the C=C bonds in the polymer chain. In contrast, a heterogeneous catalyst requires that the polymer chain unfold to gain access to a catalytically active site on the surface of a metal particle. 

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