Supported BF₃ catalyst on crystalline polyolefins; carbocationic polymerization of isobutylene

This paper describes a new supported Lewis acid catalyst which involves BF₃ species chemically bonded to the crystalline polyolefins, such as polypropylene and poly(1-butene). The supported catalysts are active in the carbocationic polymerization of isobutylene and are recovered and reused for many reaction cycles without significantly losing their activity. Several advantages, such as chemical and physical stabilities of the substrate, convenient implantation to load high concentration of catalyst to the substrate and high catalyst reactivity, have been observed. In addition, polyisobutylene obtained in this process has high terminal unsaturation.