The second life of Ziegler catalyst. Ethylene polymerization reactions with TiCl 4 –Al[C 2 H 5 ] 2 Cl/Mg(C 4 H 9 ) 2 catalyst

The Ziegler catalyst, a combination of TiCl 4 and Al(C 2 H 5 ) 2 Cl, was widely used since 1950s for the commercial manufacture of linear polyethylene. We found that addition of Mg(C 4 H 9 ) 2 to this catalyst at [Al]:[Mg] molar > 2 leads to the formation of a very active catalyst system for homopolymerization of ethylene and for copolymerization of ethylene and 1‐alkenes. The principal advantages of the ternary TiCl 4 –Al(C 2 H 5 ) 2 Cl/Mg(C 4 H 9 ) 2 catalyst are very high activity (six to seven times higher than the activity of the original Ziegler catalyst), low cost, and the ease of use: the catalyst is prepared in situ from three commercially available cheap compounds soluble in aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136 , 47340.