Yang Mujie

New scandium coordination catalysts for the cis polymerization of acetylene

The catalytic activity of scandium has not been widely studied. This article reports the first study of a new kind of Ziegler-Natta catalyst, the combination of a scandium compound and aluminum trialkyl, for the polymerization of acetylene. Some characteristics and kinetic aspects of acetylene polymerization by scandium catalysts and the results of the characterization of polyacetylene so obtained are described. High cis polyacetylene films (95% cis) with silvery metallic sheen and high crystallinity (70%) were obtained at ambient temperature (30–0 °C). The electrical conductivity of iodine doped polyacetylene reached hundreds ohm−1 cm−1.