Catalysts for the polymerization of olefins

Claim 1

A method for producing a solid titanium trichloride catalyst, which comprises reacting a titanium trichloride composition represented by the general formula (I): TiCl.sub.3 (R.sub.n AlZ.sub.3-n).sub.a (E).sub.b (I) wherein R has up to 18 carbon atoms and represents an aliphatic hydrocarbon group, which may be straight chain, branched chain or cyclic, or an aromatic hydrocarbon group; Z represents a halogen atom or a hydrogen atom; n is a number defined by the relationship 0≦n≦3; a is a number defined by the relationship 0<a<1; E represents an ether compound represented by the general formula (II): R.sup.1 --O--R.sup.2 (II) wherein R 1 and R 2 , which may be the same or different, each represents a straight chain or branched chain alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms; and b is a number defined by the relationship 0≦b<1; in the presence of a hydrocarbon solvent selected from the group consisting of hexane, heptane, octane, decane, benzene, toluene and zylene at a temperature of -30° to 200° C. for 5 minutes to 5 hours with a mixture of (1) an ether represented by the general formula (III): R.sup.3 --O--R.sup.4 (III) wherein R 3 and R 4 , which may be the same or different, each represents a straight chain or branched chain alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, the amount of the ether compound being about 0.01 to 5.0 moles per mole of titanium trichloride in the titanium trichloride composition; and (2) (a) a hydrocarbon compound containing a tertiary carbon atom and represented by the general formula (IV): ##STR4## wherein R 5 , R 6 , and R 7 , which may be the same or different, each has up to 18 carbon atoms and represents an aliphatic hydrocarbon group, which may be straight chain, branched chain or cyclic, or an aromatic hydrocarbon group, with at least one of R 5 , R 6 and R 7 being an aromatic hydrocarbon group, the amount of the hydrocarbon compound being about 0.01 to about 10 moles per mole of titanium trichloride in the titanium trichloride composition; and/or (2) (b) an organic sulfur compound represented by the general formulas (V) and (VII): R.sup.9 --S--S--R.sup.10 (V) HS--(CH.sub.2).sub.d --SH (VI) wherein each of R 9 and R 10 has up to 18 carbon atoms and represents an aliphatic hydrocarbon group, which may be straight chain, branched chain or cyclic, or an aromatic hydrocarbon group, where R 9 and R 10 may be the same or different; and d is an integer of 2 to 8, the amounts of the organic sulfur compounds represented by the formulas of (VI) and (VII) being about 0.05 to about 1.0 mole and about 0.001 to about 0.2 mole per mole of titanium trichloride in the titanium trichloride composition, respectively.

Claim 2

A method for producing a solid titanium trichloride catalyst, which comprises reacting a titanium trichloride composition represented by the general formula (I): TiCl.sub.3 (R.sub.n AlZ.sub.3-n).sub.a (E).sub.b (I) wherein R has up to 18 carbon atoms and represents an aliphatic hydrocarbon group, which may be straight chain, branched chain or cyclic, or an aromatic hydrocarbon group; Z represents a halogen atom or a hydrogen atom; n is a number defined by the relationship 0≦n≦3; a is a number defined by the relationship 0<a<1; E represents an ether compound represented by the general formula (II): R.sup.1 --O--R.sup.2 (II) wherein R 1 and R 2 , which may be the same or different, each represents a straight chain or branched chain alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms; and b is a number defined by the relationship 0≦b<1; in the presence of a hydrocarbon solvent selected from the group consisting of hexane, heptane, octane, decane, benzene, toluene and zylene at a temperature of -30° to 200° C. for 5 minutes to 5 hours with a mixture of (1) an ether represented by the general formula (III): R.sup.3 --O--R.sup.4 (III) wherein R 3 and R 4 , which may be the same or different, each represents a straight chain or branched chain alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, the amount of the ether compound being about 0.01 to 5.0 moles per mole of titanium trichloride in the titanium trichloride composition; and (2) (a) a hydrocarbon compound containing a tertiary carbon atom and represented by the general formula (IV): ##STR4## wherein R 5 , R 6 , and R 7 , which may be the same or different, each has up to 18 carbon atoms and represents an aliphatic hydrocarbon group, which may be straight chain, branched chain or cyclic, or an aromatic hydrocarbon group, with at least one of R 5 , R 6 and R 7 being an aromatic hydrocarbon group, the amount of the hydrocarbon compound being about 0.01 to about 10 moles per mole of titanium trichloride in the titanium trichloride composition; and/or (2) (b) an organic sulfur compound represented by the general formulas (V) and (VII): R.sup.9 --S--S--R.sup.10 (V) HS--(CH.sub.2).sub.d --SH (VI) wherein each of R 9 and R 10 has up to 18 carbon atoms and represents an aliphatic hydrocarbon group, which may be straight chain, branched chain or cyclic, or an aromatic hydrocarbon group, where R 9 and R 10 may be the same or different; and d is an integer of 2 to 8, the amounts of the organic sulfur compounds represented by the formulas of (VI) and (VII) being about 0.05 to about 1.0 mole and about 0.001 to about 0.2 mole per mole of titanium trichloride in the titanium trichloride composition, respectively.