Production of trans-1, 4 polybutadiene with a reducible titanium compound-organoaluminum-thioether catalyst

Claim 1

THE PROCESS OF PRODUCING POLYBUTADIENE IN WHICH AT LEAST 80% OF THE UNITS ARE IN THE RANS-1,4 CONFIGURATION WHICH COMPRISES POLYMERIZING BUTADIENE AT A TEMPERATURE OF 0*C. TO 70*C. IN THE PRESENCE OF A IODINE-CONTAINING CATALYST COMPRISING AN ADMIXTURE OF (1) A TITANIUM COMPOUND HAVING THE FORMULA TIXN-R4-N IN WHICH X IS A HALOGEN ATOM, R CONTAINS FEWER THAN 12 CARBON ATOMS AND IS SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF A HYDROCARBON RADICAL, AN OXYHYDROCARBON RADICAL AND AN ORGANIC SALTFORMING RADICAL, AND N IS AN INTEGER HAVING A VALUE OF 1 TO 4, (2) AN ORGANO-ALUMINUM COMPOUND HAVING THE FORMULA AIR1R2R3 IN WHICH R1 AND R2 ARE HYDOCARBON RADICALS AND R3 IS SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF HYDROGEN, HALOGEN, HYDROCARBON AND OXYHYDROCARBON RADICALS IN WHICH SAID HYDROCARBON AND OXYHYDROCARBON RADICALS CONTAIN FROM 1 TO 12 CARBON ATOMS, AND (3) A THIOETHER, IN WHICH AT LEAST ONE OF SAID COMPOUNDS (1) AND (2) CONTAIN IODINE, THE RATIO OF ORGANO-ALUMINUM COMPOUND TO REDUCTIBLE TITANIUM COMPOUND BEING BETWEEN 1:1 AND 10:1 ON A MOLAR BASIS AND THE AMOUNT OF SAID THIOETHER BEING BETWEEN ABOUT 0.75 TO 10.0 MOLES PER MOLE OF SAID ORGANO-ALUMINUM COMPOUND.