Rapid evaluation of catalysts and MAO activators by kinetics: what controls polymer molecular weight and activity in metallocene/MAO catalysts?
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 2, 2026

Ethylene Polymerizations Using Parallel Pressure Reactors and a Kinetic Analysis of Chain Transfer Polymerization
Published on: November 27, 2015
Fabio Ghiotto1, Chrysoula Pateraki, John R Severn
1Wolfson Materials and Catalysis Centre, School of Chemistry, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
Abstract:
The influence of methylaluminoxane (MAO) catalyst activators of different concentrations and preparative histories on the performance of 1-hexene polymerisations was investigated by kinetic methods, using rac-Me2Si(2-Me-Benz[e]Ind)2ZrCl2 as the standard catalyst precursor. Fast sampling and analysis allow the time dependence of monomer conversion and the growth of the number-average polymer molecular weight to be determined at a sufficiently short timescale to make this a feasible method for routine catalyst evaluation. Differences in productivity, polymer molecular weight and active species count are shown to be primarily a linear function of the trimethylaluminium concentration. The results in toluene and heptane as solvents are compared; the data show that the inferior performance in heptane is due to a substantially lower active species concentration.
Related Concept Videos
Catalysis
Oxidation of Alkenes: Syn Dihydroxylation with Potassium Permanganate
Ziegler–Natta Chain-Growth Polymerization: Overview
Olefin Metathesis Polymerization: Overview
Ruthenium-based Grubbs catalyst is the most commonly used catalyst for olefin metathesis polymerization. Grubbs catalyst consists of a...
Olefin Metathesis Polymerization: Acyclic Diene Metathesis (ADMET)
Similar to cross-metathesis, ADMET also involves the formation of metallacyclobutane intermediate by [2+2] cycloaddition of one of the double bonds of a terminal diene with...
Heterogeneous Catalysis

