Polymerization Within A Solid Polymer

Butadiene has been polymerized in polystyrene with several Ziegler-Natta catalysts via an in-situ technique. We have found that the structure of the polybutadiene is different when polymerization occurs within a solid below its glass transition temperature. For catalysts containing halide ligands, a significant amount of cyclotrimerization of butadiene is observed in the solid.The chemistry of these catalysts and the morphology of the resulting blends will be described.