The effect of Ti content on the activity of titanium-magnesium catalysts (TMC) and molecular weight distribution (MWD) of polyethylene (PE) produced has been studied. It was found that the activity enhances sharply as Ti content decreases from 0.6 to 0.07 wt %, and shows no significant changes in the Ti content range of 0.6-5.0 wt %. The maximum activity (36 kg PE/mmol Ti  h  bar C 2 H 4 ) was observed for TMC with the lowest Ti content. The catalyst with low titanium content ($ 0.1 wt % of Ti) produced PE with narrower MWD (M w /M n ¼ 3.1-3.5) as compared to catalysts with higher titanium content (3-5 wt % of Ti; M w /M n ¼ 4.8-5.0). New data on the effect of hydrogen on MWD of PE have been found. Increasing hydrogen concentration results in broadening the MWD of PE, especially in the case of TMC with high titanium content. The data presented indicate the heterogeneity of active centers of TMC in the reaction of chain transfer with hydrogen. The data on the ethylenehexene-1 copolymerization over TMC with different titanium content are presented. Comonomer reactivity ratios were shown to be independent of the Ti content in TMC. Presumably the difference in activity of these catalysts is mainly caused by the difference in the number of active centers.

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The article reports on the noncatalytic transformation of a polybutadiene (number‐average molecular weight = 128,000) into a functionalized liquid rubber via the carboxidation of the polymer CC bonds by nitrous oxide. The reaction was conducted in a benzene solution at 160–230 °C and a pressure of 3–6 MPa. The carboxidation mechanism was determined. The main route (95%) of the reaction proceeded without cleavage of CC bonds and led to the formation of ketone groups in the polymer backbone. A minor route (5%) of the reaction proceeded with the cleavage of CC bonds, yielding two smaller fragments containing aldehyde and vinyl end groups. The availability of the cleavage route could lead to a dramatic decrease in the molecular weight, which, depending on the carboxidation degree, could be 1–2 orders of magnitude less than that of the initial material. Thus, the carboxidation of more than 15% of the polybutadiene CC bonds transformed it into a CO‐functionalized liquid rubber with a narrow molecular weight distribution. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 2510–2520, 2006

ABSTRACT:The data on the effects of polymerization duration, cocatalyst, and monomer concentrations upon ethylene polymerization in the absence of hydrogen, and the effect of an additional chain transfer agent (hydrogen) on the molecular weight (MW), molecular weight distribution (MWD), and content of vinyl terminal groups for polyethylene (PE) produced over the supported titanium-magnesium catalyst (TMC) are obtained. The effects of these parameters on nonuniformity of active sites for different chain transfer reactions are analyzed by deconvolution of the experimental MWD curves into Flory components. It has been shown that the polymer MW grows, the MWD becomes narrower and the content of vinyl terminal groups in PE increases with increasing polymerization duration. It is assumed to occur due to the reduction of the rate of chain transfer with AlEt 3 with increasing polymerization duration. The polydispersity of PE is found to rise with increasing AlEt 3 concentration and decreasing monomer concentration due to the emergence of additional low molecular weight Flory components. The ratios of the individual rate constants of chain transfer with AlEt 3 , monomer and hydrogen to the propagation rate constant have been calculated.

Heterogeneity of active centers (AC) of titanium-magnesium catalysts (TMC) and vanadium-magnesium catalyst (VMC) in ethylene-hexene-1 copolymerization has been studied on the base of data of polymer molecular weight distribution (MWD) deconvolution technique and copolymer fractionation onto narrow fractions. It was found that 3 and 4 Flory components (groups of active centers) are required to describe experimental MWD curves of copolymers produced over TMC with different Ti content. In the case of VMC MWD of homopolymer and copolymer are characterized by set of 5 Flory components (5 groups of AC). Different character of inter-relationship between MW and short chain branching (SCB) was found for ethylene-hexene-1 copolymers produced over different catalysts: heterogeneous type in the case of TMC and more uniform for copolymer prepared over VMC. The content of Ti affects on the slope of that profile in copolymers produced over TMC. The results indicated that TMC and VMC are different greatly on the heterogeneity of active centers to the formation of polymers with different molecular weights and to formation of copolymers with different inter-relationship between MW and short chain branching. TMC produces polymers with more narrow MWD but it contains highly heterogeneous centers regarding comonomer reactivity ratios. VMC produces polymers with broad and bimodal MWD but it contains more homogeneous centers regarding comonomer reactivity ratios.