Ziegler-Natta catalysts metal alkyls

Ziegler-Natta catalysts-—there are many different formulations—are organometallic transition-metal complexes prepared by treatment of an alkyl-aluminum with a titanium compound. Triethylaluminum and titanium tetrachloride form a typical preparation. 

Two-component systems are obtained by the interaction of transition metal compounds of groups IV-VIII of the periodic system with or-ganometallic compounds of groups I-III elements (Ziegler-Natta catalysts). An essential feature of the formation of the propagation centers in these catalysts is the alkylation of the transition metal ions by an organo-metallic cocatalyst. 

Finally, chain polymerisation can occur via coordination, as is the case for polymerisation involving Ziegler-Natta catalysts. These catalysts are complexes formed between main-group metal alkyls and transition metal salts. Typical components are shown in Table 2.1. 

Natta catalyst. A stereospecific catalyst made from metal alkyls and titanium chloride developed by the chemist Giulio Natta. See also Ziegler-Natta catalyst. 

Ziegler-Natta catalyst. Gi ulio Natta developed a catalyst based on his work with Karl Ziegler for polymerizing vinyl monomers to give stereoregular, tailored, three-dimensional chains. The catalyst is based on aluminum alkyls and TiCU or other transition metal halides. 

In reporting a Ziegler-Natta catalyst, the kind of transition metal compound should not be omitted. Group 4-8 transition metal compounds, such as halides, oxyhalides, alkoxides, acetylacetonates, etc., have been used as catalyst precursors with activators such as alkyl derivatives or hydrides of group 1-4 metals. Titanium chlorides and triethylaluminium are most commonly applied for the preparation of heterogeneous catalysts in an aliphatic hydrocarbon medium. Also, vanadium oxychloride or acetylacetonate and dialkyaluminium chloride are often used for the preparation of homogeneous catalysts in an aliphatic hydrocarbon or an aromatic hydrocarbon medium. 

It is to be noted in this connection that alkyl radicals normally formed during reduction of the transition metal compound in Ziegler-Natta systems [scheme (7)] do not initiate the radical polymerisation of olefins, in contrast to that of polar monomers. Most of the modified Ziegler-Natta catalysts for polar monomer polymerisation are characterised by low activities and lack of stereospecificity, producing polymers with properties that are very similar to those of polymers obtained by more conventional procedures for radical polymerisation [28],... 

Industrial polymerisation processes with the use of titanium-, cobalt- and nickel-based aluminium alkyl-activated Ziegler-Natta catalysts, which are employed for the manufacture of cis- 1,4-poly butadiene, involve a solution polymerisation in low-boiling aromatic hydrocarbons such as toluene or in a mixture of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons such as n-heptane or cyclohexane. The polymerisation is carried out in an anhydrous hydrocarbon solvent system. The proper ratio of butadiene monomer and solvent is blended and then completely dried in the tower, followed by molecular sieves. The alkyla-luminium activator is added, the mixture is agitated and then the transition metal precatalyst is introduced. This blend then passes through a series of reactors in a cascade system in which highly exothermic polymerisation occurs. Therefore, the reaction vessels are cooled to slightly below room temperature. 

Metallocenes (Fig. 2) are sandwich structures, typically incorporating a transition metal such as titanium, zirconium, or hafnium in the center. The metal atom is linked to two aromatic rings with five carbon atoms and to two other groups—often chlorine or alkyl. The rings play a key role in the polymerization activity (23-27). Electrons associated with the rings influence the metal, modifying its propensity to attack carbon-carbon double bonds of the olefins. The activities of these metallocenes combined by aluminum alkyls, however, are too low to be of commercial interest. Activation with methylaluminoxane, however, causes them to become 10-100 times more active than Ziegler-Natta catalysts. 

Ziegler-Natta Catalysts (Heterogeneous). These systems consist of a combination of a transition metal compound from groups IV to VIII and an organometallic compound of a group I—III metal.23 The transition metal compound is called the catalyst and the organometallic compound the cocatalyst. Typically the catalyst is a halide or oxyhalide of titanium, chromium, vanadium, zirconium, or molybdenum. The cocatalyst is often an alkyl, aryl, or halide of aluminum, lithium, zinc, tin, cadmium, magnesium, or beryllium.24 One of the most important catalyst systems is the titanium trihalides or tetra-halides combined with a trialkylaluminum compound. 

Almost all group 4 metal complexes require a cocatalyst to generate an active metal-alkyl cationic species. Ordinary alkylaluminums - used in conventional Ziegler Natta catalysts - are insufiicient to activate these compounds on their own. The principal activator nsed is methylalumoxane (MAO), a structurally enigmatic material with a mixture of nuclearities. Its purpose is to alkylate the metal dichloride and to abstract one of the reactive hgands to form the ion pair active catalyst. The interaction is dynamic and a large excess of MAO is needed for effective catalyst performance, thus inhibiting a comprehensive characterization of these catalysts. 

It is in the stereospecific polymerization of propylene that metallocene complexes display their astonishing versatility. Commercial Ziegler-Natta catalysts for isotactic polypropylene - based on combinations of TiCU, MgCl2, Lewis bases and aluminum alkyls - depend on a metal-centered chirality which exists at specific edge and defect sites on the crystal lattice to direct the incoming monomer in a particular orientation. These catalysts produce small amounts of undesirable atactic material due to the presence of achiral active sites. 

Although there are two metals in the Ziegler-Natta catalyst, the weight of current evidence indicates that polymerization takes place at the transition metal-carbon bond. The mechanism is illustrated here with reference to polymerization by TiCl /Al(CH2CH3)3 catalyst complex. The normal geometry for Ti atoms is octahedral, and the catalyst site, as shown in 9-21, is believed to be a coordinately unsaturated Ti bonded to four Cl s [which in turn are bridged to two other Ti s] and to an alkyl group, derived from the aluminum alkyl component. 

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