Effect of the cocatalyst on the copolymerization of ethylene and propylene with high activity Ziegler-Natta catalyst

Ethylene and propylene were copolymerized in n-heptane in the presence of high activity heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalyst to study the effect of the cocatalyst on the microstructure and molecular weight of the copolymer. Seven aluminium alkyls of structure Al((CH2)nCH3)3, where n = 0—3, 5, 7 or 11, and one of structure Al(C(CH3)3)3, were used as cocatalysts. The effect of the Al/Ti mole ratio was also studied. Modern molecular modelling techniques were used to calculate the volume of the cocatalyst and the electron density around aluminium. The size of the cocatalyst molecule was found to have a marked effect on the activity of the catalyst: the smaller the cocatalyst the higher the activity. Higher electron density around aluminium increased the randomness of the copolymer