Effects of FeCl3 doping on the performance of MgCl2/TiCl4/DNPB catalyst in 1-hexene polymerization

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of catalyst doping on the performance of MgCl2. EtOH/TiCl4 catalyst system. In this regard, a series of undoped as well as FeCl3-doped catalysts was prepared and employed in 1-hexene polymerization. A modified catalyst containing 10 wt. % of FeCl3 dopant demonstrated the highest activity, with 32% activity increase compared to unmodified one, among the series. The GPC results showed a lower molecular weight as well as broader MWD for the poly1-hexenes obtained from FeCl3-doped catalyst. The distribution of active centers was analyzed using deconvolution of the MW profiles with using multiple Flory functions. It was demonstrated that the number of active sites increased by 10 wt. % FeCl3 doping, however, by more increasing the dopant amount to 15 wt.%, the number of active sites decreased. The 13C-NMR results indicated that, FeCl3 doping did not have a considerable effect on the polymer tacticity (with total tacticity of 53 %), however it increased by donor presence to the maximum value of 60 %.