Effect of catalyst aging on catalyst activity and stereospecificity for MgCl2/ethyl benzoate or dioctyl phthalate/TiCl4-triethylaluminium for propene polymerization

The aging of the MgCl₂/dioctyl phthalate (DOP) or ethyl benzoate (EB)/TiCl₄ catalyst was studied. Because of the strong complexation of DOP with the catalyst, only a small fraction of DOP was extracted by cocatalyst triethylaluminium (TEA) during aging, resulting in converting some highly isospecific sites into aspecific ones. No change of the overall number of sites was detected. EB, on the other hand, could be readily removed by TEA, resulting in a large increase in aspecific sites. Clustering of those sites facilitated catalyst deactivation.