Historical and Philosophical Remarks on Ziegler-Natta.pdf

Historical and Philosophical Remarks on Ziegler-Natta Catalysts A Discourse on Industrial Catalysis Luigi Cerruti Abstract: Part 1 outlines the complex, parallel historical evolution of Ziegler- Natta catalysts and related problems. In Part 2, as a general method of inquiry, chemical language and discourse are analyzed, at first to clarify chemists’ epis- temic views and the ontological status of catalysts. After analyzing contrasting definitions of ‘catalyst’ and the chemical properties of catalysts, a suitable metaphor is suggested for catalytic activity, and then ‘applied’ to different cas- es of industrial catalysis (incl. Ziegler-Natta). The last two sections deal with intellectual attitudes to industrial catalysis and the makeup of industrial cataly- sis as academic discipline. In conclusion, I suggest that references to the eco- nomic level of reality (the industrial production) serve both a better under- standing of the microscopic level of reality (the chemical process), and a high- er status at the social level of reality (the chemical community). Keywords: Ziegler-Natta catalysts, industrial catalysis, chemical discourse Introduction Without any doubt, the works on the polymerization of olefins by Karl Zieg- ler in Germany and by Giulio Natta in Italy had a striking impact on the aca- demic and scientific role of macromolecular chemistry as discipline, and on the great development of polymer industry. On their own, since 1955 Zieg- ler-Natta catalysts have been the object of an enormous quantity of chemical studies, both of basic and applied research. The case of Ziegler-Natta cata- lysts is almost perfect for a study of many philosophical aspects of industrial catalysis. The quasi-perfection of the case derives from the long-term per