Ziegler Natta catalysts soluble complexes

Similar to IFP s Dimersol process, the Alphabutol process uses a Ziegler-Natta type soluble catalyst based on a titanium complex, with triethyl aluminum as a co-catalyst. This soluble catalyst system avoids the isomerization of 1-butene to 2-butene and thus eliminates the need for removing the isomers from the 1-butene. The process is composed of four sections reaction, co-catalyst injection, catalyst removal, and distillation. Reaction takes place at 50—55°C and 2.4—2.8 MPa (350—400 psig) for 5—6 h. The catalyst is continuously fed to the reactor ethylene conversion is about 80—85% per pass with a selectivity to 1-butene of 93%. The catalyst is removed by vaporizing Hquid withdrawn from the reactor in two steps classical exchanger and thin-film evaporator. The purity of the butene produced with this technology is 99.90%. IFP has Hcensed this technology in areas where there is no local supply of 1-butene from other sources, such as Saudi Arabia and the Far East. 

Catalysts such as HRuX(PPh3)3, where X is an optically active car-boxylate (e.g., / -mandelate) gave only 0.4% ee using 2-ethylhex-l-ene as substrate (124). Soluble Ziegler-Natta catalysts comprised of triiso-butylaluminum with the optically active alkoxide complex, titanium tetra-(-)-menthoxide, hydrogenated racemic terminal olefins such as 3,4-di-methyl pent- 1-ene, but with zero ee (323). 

Soluble Ziegler-Natta catalysts can exhibit unique stereochemical properties. Group IV metallocenes in combination with methylaluminoxanes produce isotactic polypropylene with two different isotactic microstructures. The usual enantio-morphic site control is characteristic of enantiomeric racemic titano- and zirco-nocene complexes (e.g., ethylene-bridged indenyl derivatives279,349). In contrast, achiral titanocenes (e.g., [Cp2TiPh2]) yield isotactic polypropylene with microstructure 49, which is consistent with a chain end control mechanism 279,349-351... 

It may be interesting, in connection with the ethylene/propylene copolymers mentioned above, to present here some homogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalysts formed by soluble complexes of titanium and magnesium chlorides with alkyl phosphates as catalyst precursors and alkylaluminium compounds as activators (TiCl4)x.(MgCl2)r [0=P(0Bu)3]3-A1(/-Bu)3 and Cl3TiOMgCl-[0 = P(0Bu)3]3- A1(z -Bu)3 (Al/Ti molar ratio of ca 10 1). These catalysts have been used for random ethylene/propylene copolymerisation [73],... 

Since cationic titanium complexes have been proposed as intermediates in aUcene polymerization by soluble Cp2TiCl2/AlR3-based Ziegler-Natta catalysts (see Ziegler-Natta Catalysts), there has been considerable interest in the synthesis and reactivity of cationic titanium complexes (see Oligomerization Polymerization by Homogeneous Catalysis). 

The earliest Ziegler-Natta catalysts were insoluble bimetallic complexes of titanium and aluminum. Other combinations of transition and Group I-III metals have been used. Most of the current processes for production of high-density polyethene in the United States employ chromium complexes bound to silica supports. Soluble Ziegler-Natta catalysts have been prepared, but have so far not found their way into industrial processes. With respect to stereo-specificity they cannot match their solid counterparts. 

It thus appears that the principal structural features found In poly(1,4-dimethylenecyclohexane) can be explained by conventional carbonium ion chemistry. There is no indication that cyclopolymerization occurs in these polymerizations and there is much evidence to indicate that the double bonds present in this diene react independently. Some of them are involved in polymerization reactions, but a large proportion isomerize to relatively stable endocyclic double bonds. Under polymerization conditions where isomerization is favorable, soluble, unsaturated polymers having complex structures are obtained. When isomerization reactions are not favorable (low temperatures, use of Ziegler-Natta catalysts), the double bonds polymerize independently and crosslinked products are obtained. 

Carbocationic Alkene Polymerizations Initiated by Organotransition Metal Complexes An Alternative, Unusual Role for Soluble Ziegler-Natta Catalysts... 

Moreover complex 7 alone, in absence of any cocatalyst such as MAO, is able to polymerize ethylene, when dichloromethane is used as solvent. All these facts are consistent with the recent evidences for the ion-pair nature of the active species in soluble Ziegler-Natta polymerizations. It is very interesting to observe that this complex can be considered as a borderline catalytic complex between metathesis and Ziegler-Natta catalysts, having the possibility to behave as a carbene or as a Ti-C sigma bond depending on the reaction conditions. 

Polymerization catalysis with soluble complexes of group IV transition metals, in particular with hydrocarbon-soluble titanocene complexes, was discovered in the 1950 s, shortly after the appearance of Ziegler s and Natta s reports on solid-state catalysts, and rather thoroughly studied from then on. Alkylalu-minium compounds, such as AlEt2Cl, are required to activate also these soluble catalysts. In distinction to their solid-state counterparts, however, early soluble catalysts were able to polymerize only ethylene, and not any of its higher homologues. After their activation by methylalumoxanes had been discovered (Section 7.4.1), soluble catalysts became as efficient as solid-state catalysts - in... 

Recently developed Ziegler-Natta polymerizations utilize zirconium complexes that are soluble in the reaction solvents typically used, and so they are homogeneous catalysts. Reactions that use these soluble catalysts are called coordination polymerizations. 

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