Kinetics of the Anionic Polymerization of 1,3‐Butadiene Using an Initiator Composed of Alkyl Aluminium,n‐Butyllithium and Barium Alkoxide to Produce High trans‐1,4‐Polybutadiene

A kinetic model that considers three geometric active sites—cis, trans and vinyl—was proposed to the study polymerization reaction of high 1,4‐trans‐polybutadiene (TPBD) prepared by means of anionic living polymerization using an initiator composed of alkyl aluminium, n‐butyllithium and barium alkoxide. The conversion and dyad sequence distribution was correctly predicted; the kinetic results indicated that the microstructure and sequence distribution do not change with the conversion and temperature within the range of temperature investigated (40–80 °C). In addition, it was observed that the addition mechanism of butadiene to the active sites is entropic.