Sonication of catalyst in the production of an isoolefin homopolymer

Abstract

A process for producing an isoolefin homopolymer comprises: sonicating a solution of an initiator system in an organic solvent, the initiator system comprising a Lewis acid catalyst and a proton source selected from the group consisting of water, an alcohol, a phenol, a thiol, a carboxylic acid or any mixture thereof, to produce a sonicated initiator solution, the sonicating performed at an energy input of 100 J/mL or greater, based on volume of the initiator solution; and then, contacting the sonicated initiator solution with a reaction mixture of an isoolefin monomer in an organic diluent to produce the isoolefin homopolymer.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.