Gas manifold for olefin polymerization and a convenient reactor design for the parallel screening of catalysts

The use of combinatorial methodology and high-throughput reaction screening has led to the rapid identification of new catalysts and materials. In particular, a requisite step in the discovery of new olefin polymerization catalysts or novel polyolefin compositions is the development of efficient screening protocols for the evaluation of catalyst activity and to produce samples for subsequent analysis. This paper reports the facile construction of a gas manifold line in which olefin polymerizations can be performed using heavy-walled glass reaction vessels in a sequential manner and a design for an inexpensive multiwell reactor that can be used to perform seven simultaneous polymerizations in a high-throughput fashion.