Influence of titanium loading of TiCl4/MgCl2 Ziegler-Natta catalyst on Trans-1,4 polymerization of isoprene

Four TiCl 4 /MgCl 2 Ziegler-Natta catalysts (Cat-1∼Cat-4) with titanium contents in the range of 0.038–0.578 wt% were synthesized by the chemical rout and used for isoprene polymerizations. Four catalysts had similar possessed rod-like morphologies and their surface areas gradually increased as Ti contents increased. Cat-1 with the lowest Ti content (0.038 wt%) had the highest catalytic activity (28039.6 g∙P/(g∙Ti∙h)). To our knowledge, this was the highest activity achieved for isoprene polymerization using the heterogeneous TiCl 4 /MgCl 2 Ziegler-Natta catalyst. With the increasing Ti content, the catalyst activity gradually decreased in the order of Cat-1 < Cat-2 < Cat-3 < Cat-4, whereas the trans -1,4 stereoselectivity increased. Cat-4 with the highest Ti content (0.578 wt %) gave highest trans -1,4 units (97.7 mol%). The polymers were mainly composed of fraction C, D and G. C and D had high trans -1,4 structure while G fraction had low trans -1,4 structure. The plausible stereospecific transformation models of MgCl 2 -supported Ziegler-Natta catalyst with different Ti contents were discussed.