KINETICS OF POLYMERIZATION OF 1-OCTENE WITH THE CATALYST SYSTEMS TICL4-ALET3 OR ALET2BR

Kinetic studies were performed on the polymerization of 1-octene with the heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalyst systems TiCl4-AlEt3 (I) and T iCl4-AlEt2Br (II). The apparent activation energies determined from Ar rhenius plots with catalyst systems I and II are 37.62 and 44.03 kJ/mo l, respectively. The rate of polymerization was found to be proportion al to the catalyst and monomer concentrations. A two-step coordinate a nionic mechanism involving competitive adsorption between the monomer and the cocatalyst on the catalyst surface (Langmuir-Hinshelwood model ) was proposed based on the dependence of the rate on the cocatalyst c oncentration. The polymers were characterized by IR, H-1-NMR, and C-13 -NMR spectroscopy.