MONOMER-ISOMERIZATION POLYMERIZATION .16. MONOMER-ISOMERIZATION POLYMERIZATION OF METHYLPENTENES WITH ZIEGLER-NATTA CATALYST

In the reported study, the polymerizations of 4-methyl-1-penetene(4M1P), 4-methyyl-2-pentene (4M2P), 2-methyl-2-pentene (2M2P), and 2-methyl-1-penetene (2M1P) with Ziegler-Natta catalyst have been investigated. Both 4M1P and 4M2P were found to polymerize with TiCl//3-(C//2H//5)//3Al catalyst to give high mol. wt poly(4M1P), while 2M2P and 2M1P did not give polymers with 4M1P units. However, when the polymerizations of 2M1P and 2M2P were carried out with ternary catalyst systems, TiCl//3-(C//2H//5)//2AlCl-(PPh//3)//2PdCl//2 and TiCl//3-(C//2H//5)//2AlCl-Ni(SCN)//2, polymers with 4M1P units were obtained in low yield. It was concluded that these four methylpentenes could polymerize with the monomer-isomerization polymerization mechanism to poly(4M1P). The results of the observed isomer distribution of methylpentenes recovered, and the rate of polymerization of four methylpentenes suggest that the isomerization from 2M1P to 4M1P with the above ternary catalyst systems might proceed via a direct one-step isomerization mechanism.