Evidence for several species of active sites in Ziegler‐Natta catalysts

The kinetics of isoprene polymerization catalyzed by VCl 3 and Et 3 Al were studied by measuring fractional conversions, polymer composition, and molecular weight distributions at a series of reaction times and temperatures. The rate of polymerization plotted against temperature shows an inflection point with a minimum and maximum in the 60–90°C range. The isomeric composition of the polymer changes with temperature but not with reaction time, while the molecular weight distribution undergoes substantial change with both of these variables. The rate of polymerization at sites producing low molecular weight polymers was measured, and the activation energy calculated to be about 10 kcal/mole. The active sites were found to deactivate at different rates. The results support the hypothesis that several species of active sites are present in the system and that these exhibit characteristic polymerization behavior.