Organoboron compounds of nonionic and ionic nature, tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane, and N,N-dimethylanilinium tetra(pentafluorophenyl)borate were evaluated to act in conjunction with MAO as activators on ethylene polymerization by using the catalyst Cp2ZrCl2. A decrease on the catalytic activity was observed in both cases in relation with a reference polyethylene which was synthesized in absence of any organoboron compound. An increase on the crystallinity degree and molecular weight, as well as an improvement in thermal and dynamic-mechanical properties, was observed in polyethylenes synthetized in presence of tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane. A low density polyethylene with improved thermal stability was obtained when N,N-dimethylanilinium tetra(pentafluorophenyl)borate was employed as activator.

1,3-Butadiene monomer was polymerized at 40°C and 60°C by means of a catalyst comprising neodymium (Nd) chloride/1-pentanolate/triisobutylaluminum (TIBA) in cyclohexane as solvent; the catalyst system was aged at 5 and 30 min. The effects on conversion, catalytic activity and polymer final properties were evaluated. The obtained polybutadienes (PBs) were characterized by size exclusion chromatography (SEC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques and the results were discussed in terms of the effect of aging time and reaction temperature.

Polyethylene/waste tire dust (WTD) composites were obtained by an <em>in situ</em> polymerization technique. The surface of the WTD was modified with deposition of polyethylene by using plasma polymerization. Ethylene polymerization was carried out using bis(cyclopentadienyl) titanium dichloride (Cp₂TiCl₂) as homogeneous metallocene catalyst, while diethylaluminum chloride (DEAC), <em>ethylaluminum sesquichloride</em> (EASC) and methyl aluminoxane (MAO) were used as co-catalysts at two different [Al]/[Ti] molar ratio. The main characteristics of the obtained polyethylenes were determined by size exclusion chromatography, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and wide-angle X-ray diffraction. The results showed that by using EASC and MAO the highest catalytic activities were presented at a [Al]/[Ti] molar ratio of 9.17 and 18.33 respectively. Even though it was possible to obtain polyethylene using WTD (modified or unmodified) the catalytic activity was lower than in the case in which no WTD was added in ethylene polymerization. Scanning transmission electronic microscopy images evidenced that the original morphology of the polyethylenes was not modified by the presence of WTD.

Triisobutylaluminum (TIBA), triethylaluminum (TEA), di-isobutylaluminum hydride (DIBAH) and methylaluminoxane (MAO) were evaluated as activators of neodymium chloride tripentanolate catalyst in order to investigate their influence over the catalytic activi-ty, macro- and microstructure, and thermal properties of of resulting polybutadienes. The higher catalytic activities were achieved by TEA and TIBA as co-catalysts, whereas TIBA and DIBAH led to the poly-mers with highest cis-1,4 structure content with 98.4 and 97.3% re-spectively. The catalytic activity was remarkably poor with MAO as co-catalyst, as well as low stereocontrol. Number average molecular weight values were observed in the range of 260 to 720 kg/mol.