Abstract
The electron donors (ED) in Ziegler-Natta (Z-N) catalysis are classified as internal electron donors (IED) and external electron donors (EED), and both IED and EED are indispensable components for enhancing the catalytic reactivity and regulating the stereoregularity of polyolefinic materials in a typical industrial Z-N catalytic process. With the intensive research on ED, the Z-N catalyst performances have experienced successive progress in the last few decades. Polypropylenes (PP) as a commodity polyolefin material, especially the isotactic PP (iPP), are produced in multi-billion pounds per annum by utilization of the various IED- and EED-assisted Z-N catalysts systems. In the course of developing Z-N catalysts, the ED constitutes a key component of the content and represents a significant area of future research. In this review, we introduced a concise overview of the functions of IEDs in the generations of Z-N catalyst systems and the widely used IED types (A total of 11 different types of IEDs are encompassed within this study) that have been developed so far. In addition, we focused on the coordination modes of different IEDs in the MgCl(2)-supported Z-N catalyst system and analyzed the effects of different types of IEDs on the PP isotacticity, regioselectivity, hydrogen sensitivity, and briefly introduced the application of environmentally friendly rosinate and salicylate IEDs.