9  3,251,895  10  pounds  and  unreactive  solid  oxy-compounds  are listed  in  Table  III  following:  clave  runs  and  in •a  continuous  reaction  unit  for the  d1- merization  of  propene.  Table  Ill.-Polar  organic  compounds  and  allyl  alkylation  catalysts  containing  superfinely  divided  solid  Organic  Compound  Oleic  Acid  .......................  .  Stearic  .....................  Laurie  Acid  .................•....  Abietic  .....................  .  C$_{12 }$ Alkyl  Ary!  Sulfonic  Acid  ....•  l•Dodecanol  .....................  .  Phenol.  .........................  2.B  utoxyethanol  .................  .  Cumene  Hydroperoxide  .........  Hexadecylamine  .................  .  Pyridine  .........................  N.Lauroyl,  N•Methylglycine  ....•  n•Hexanoic  Acid  .................  .  Acetic  ......................  l•HexanethioL  ...................  .  ~~:ra~1~~~  ~=======  =======  ==== ::  Tridecanenitrile  .................  .  Oleic  Acid  .......................  Do  ..........................  .  .••...............•....•....  Do  ...........................  .  Do  ..•............  •••••••-••••  ...........................  .  Do  ...........................  Do...........  .  ..............  .  Amount,  Dipole  Mo- :Moles/  Gram  ment  (e.s.u.)  Atom  K  XIO’  Solid  oxy-Compound  5. 5  ..............  Ca, Mg,  Al  Silicate  .....  .  5. 5  ...................  do  ...•...............  7. 8  ...................  ..................  .  5. 2  ...••••••••••...•••  do  4. 2  ...................  ..•................  8. 4  1. 7  .....  do  ..................  .  17  1. 5  .....  13  •••••..  •  •.....••••  do  ....•............  ~  10  .•••••••••••...•...  ..•................  6. 5  ...................  do  ..................  .  20  ..•..•.••••••••...•  6. 0  ...................  do  ...•...............  13  •.••••....•..••••••  ..................  .  6. 5  1.  7  .....  do .....  •••••-••••••••  13  5  do  ....•..............  6. 7  1.  7  .....  ..................  .  5. 5  4  .....  do  ....•..............  8. 0  4  .....  ..................  .  2. 7  ..............  Sodium  Metasilicate  ...  2. 7  ..............  Barium  Snlfate  ........  .  2. 7  ..............  Calcium  Silicate  .......  2. 7  ..............  Magoesium  ....  .  2. 7  ..............  Aluminum  Silicate  .....  2. 7  ..............  Magnesium  Oxide  ......  .  2. 7  ..............  Calcium  Carbonate  ....  2. 7  ..............  Phosphate  .  Catalytic  Activity  +  +  +  +  +  +  ++  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  Condition  of  Used  Evalnation  for  Catalyst  System  (Part.  Continuous  Proc- icle Size,  Range,  Microns)  - ess  Use  Excellent  (3-35)  •.•••.•••  Excellent.  Good  (3-20).,...........  Good.  Excellent  (3-16)  •••.•.  •  •.•  Excellent.  (5-30).........  Do.  Excellent  (1-15).........  (1-15)  ••....•..  ,  Do.  Good  (5-450)  .••.•...••••  Good.  (10-30)............  Do.  Excellent  (6-18)  ••••••  ,..  Excellent.  (3-15).........  Do.  Excellent  (4--25).........  Good  (6-40)  ....  .........  Good.  Excellent  (l-15)  .•••.••.•  Excellent.  (3-12)  ••....•••  Do.  Excellent  (3-15).  :.......  Good  (3-20)  .•.•••..••...  Satisfactory.  Excellent  (1-6)  ••••••••.  :  Excellent.  Good  (1-20)  ...•••••..•  :.  Satisfactory.  Excellent  (1-15).  •.••..••  Superior.  (1-15)  .•••.....  Excellent.  Good  (3-30)  ..••...•  a....  Good.  (2-90).............  Do.  Excellent  (3-30).........  Good  (50-150)  .•••••.•••.  Do.  (3-50)  .••.•..••••.•  Free  K,  coke  1  •••••.•••••  Unsatisfactory.  Mols  of  Organic  Compound/  Gram  Atom  KXl0  a  Catalyst  Inspection  0  •••...••••••.•.••••••..•.••••••...  K  disposed  on solid;  tends  to ag.  glomerate  in  continuous  use.  0.7 ....  ••••••••••••••••  ...........  .  1.  4  ••••  .•••••••.••••••••..•••••  2.8 $_{...•......•........•............ }$ 5.6  ...............................  .  14. •- .......  •••••  .................  .  Unsatisfactory  for  UsuallY:  reproducible,  occasional  unsatisfactory  catalyst.  Consistently  reproducible  cat› alyst  averaging  about  800  gr.  of  timer/gram  of  K/half  life.  Excellently  reproducible  cata.  Jysts known  to  yield  2000  +  gr.  dimer/gram  K/half  life.  Unsatisfactory  catalyst,  gelati•  nous  medium.  Table  IV.-Alkali  metal-polar  organic  compound  ratio  and the  catalyst  1  Particle  size of  Ca,(PO$_{4}$ h  too  small.  The  above  data  considered  in  connection  with  that  of  Table  II  show  that  polar  organic  compounds  are  generally  unsatisfactory  for the  production  of  stable  alkali  metal  containing  allyl  alkylation  catalysts  in the  absence  of criti- cal  amounts  of  sized  unreactive  solid  oxy-compounds.  This  fact  is  even  apparent  for  many  polar  compounds  in  a  simple  batch  test,  for the  others  relatively  short  testing  under  continuous  allyl  alkylation  conditions  soon  estab› lishes  a  deficiency.  Functionally,  the  organic  compounds  may  be said  to  require  a  polar  component  capable  of gen› erating  a  dipole  moment  of at  least  one  Debye  unit  and  preferably  one  having  a  pKa  below  about  28, and  a  hydro› carbon  component,  dielectric  in  nature,  which  is  stable  under  allyl  alkylation  conditions.  •  From  -the  examples,  it  is to  be seen  that  the  hydrocarbon  component  may  be sup› plied  by a  group  as  small  as a  methyl  group  and  as  large  as an  18  carbon  atom  alkyl  or  alkenyl  group  and  larger.  Hydrocarbon  components  containing  from  1 to  20 car› bon  atoms  per  group  are  clearly  useful.  The  groups  may  be  normal  alkyl,  branched  alkyl,  cyclic,  acyclic,  and  phenyl.  Where  an easy  safe  disposition  of  spent  catalyst  is of  particular  importance,  catalysts  prepared  from  alkali  metal,  meta- and  orthosilicates,  i.e.,  water  soluble  oxy› compounds  and  stable  polar  organic  compounds  whose  hydrocarbon  component  contains  from  1-10  carbon  atoms  per  group,  are  preferred.  A  further  advantage  of  these  catalysts  using  the  alkali  metal  solid  oxy.compounds  are  their  nonacidic  nature,  which  appears  to  make  them  use- ful  where  1-alkene  product  maximization  is  desired.  These  data  and the  data  of  Table  III  indicate  that  from  about  1.0x,10-3  to  LOX  10- 2  mols  of a  polar  material  of the  molecular  weight  in the  range  of  oleic  acid,  used  in  conjunction  with  an  unreactive  oxy-compound  having  a  particle  size  in the  range  1-10  microns,  is  required  in  the  formulation  of a  stable  allyl  alkylation  catalyst.  In  the use  of  polar  organic  compounds  having  smaller  mo› lecular  weights,  for  example,  of the  order  of  acetic  acid  up to  a C$_{10 }$ carboxylic  acid,  whether  of  branched  or  normal  carbon  chain  configuration,  the  operable  amounts  of  polar  organic  compound  relative  to the  alkali  metal  is  some- what  larger,  being  from  about  LOX  10- 3  up to  about  LOX  10-1  mols  of -the  material  per  gram  atom  of the  alkali  metal.  These  lower  molecular  weight  materials  are  distinctly  advantageous  ()IVer  the  higher  molecular  weight  materials  for  several  reasons;  among  which  are the  absence  of any  tendency  to  produce  foam  and more  favor•  able  medium  viscosities.  Particle  size.-Allyl  alkylation  catalyst  complexes  pre› pared  from  oxy•compounds  having  an  appreciable  frac› tion  of  particles  in  sizes  ranging  above  about  20  microns  are  in  general  unsatisfactory  for  use  in a  continuous  Within  a  range  a  definite  amount  of a  polar  organic  compound  is  required  to  produce  stable  ally!  alkylation  catalysts.  The  results  listed  in  Table  N  following  were  obtained  by  preparing  -the  catalysts  in the  preferred  man- ner  except  that  the  amount  of the  organic  compound,  oleic  acid,  was  varied  as  indicated.  For  each  gram  atom  of  potassium,  13.4  cc. of  a  mixed  silicate,  a  metamorphic  talc,  was  used.  The  catalysts  were  tested  in  batch  auto- EXAMPLE  5  EXAMPLE4 