Abstract: A neodymium chloride ethylene glycol dimethyl ether complex (NdCl3·2DME) was synthesized and used as catalyst for butadiene polymerization. The effects of concentrations of alkylaluminium(AlR3) and methylaluminoxane(MAO) cocatalysts, aging time and polymerization time on such polymerization were investigated. Results show that the as-prepared catalyst displays high activity when both AlR3 and MAO were used as cocatalysts, while the activity became much lower when AlR3 or MAO as cocatalyst was used respectively. The highest catalytic activity was observed with the molar ratio of n(Nd)∶n(AlR3)∶n(MAO) was 1∶30∶45. The catalytic activity, cis-1,4 content and molecular weight of the resulting polymer were much affected with variation of aging temperature of the catalyst system. The optimal aging temperature of the catalyst system was 50 ℃, while negative effect was observe when aging temperature was higher or lower. The contents of cis-1,4 and the total 1,4-unit of polybutadiene catalyzed by using current catalyst system were up to 98.7%(IR) and 99.6%(1H NMR), respectively.

Key words: butadiene, DME, rare earth chloride.