Study on the polymerization of methyl methacrylate by coordination catalyst Nd(O-i-Pr)3-Al(i-Bu)3

The polymerization of methyl methacrylate using Nd(O-i-Pr)(3)-Al(i-Bu)(3) coordination catalyst system has been investigated. The effects of various alkyl aluminiums, the aging temperature of catalyst, the additive of DMSO and polymerization temperature were studied in detail. It has been found that the highest conversion polymerization was obtained with Al(i-Bu)(3) as cocatalyst. Lower aging temperature of catalyst was favoured incresse of both polymerization conversion and molecular weight of PMMA.. H-1-NMR spectrum of PMMA formed indicated that the most stereostructure of PMMA is syndiotactic. Kinetic study showed that the rate of polymerization is first order with respect to monomer and catalyst concentration. The activation energy of polymerization is 43.5 KJ/mol.