Kinetic features of the cobalt dihalide/methylaluminoxane catalytic system in 1,3-butadiene polymerization

The kinetic features of polymerization with an active site comprising cobalt dihalides (CoX₂, where X=Cl, Br, I) activated by methylaluminoxane (MAO) were investigated in 1,3-butadiene polymerization. The catalytic system exhibited the characteristic features of living polymerization. The initiation (ki) and propagation (kp) rate coefficients were estimated using the kinetic model for slow initiation previously reported by Shiono et al. The energy of activation for the propagation reaction was calculated to be 27-30 kJmol⁻¹. The marked changes in reaction rate observed with different halides could be adequately described in terms of variations in the initiation process, with the same Arrhenuis curve fitting propagation rate coefficients estimated from all three halides, suggesting that the halide does not participate in the growing chain end.