Iron bis(arylimino)pyridine precursors activated to catalyze ethylene oligomerization as studied by DFT and QSAR approaches

2D-QSPR/DFT studies of aryl-substituted PNP-Cr-based catalyst systems for highly selective ethylene oligomerization

1-Hexene and 1-octene are important comonomers for the synthesis of high performance polyolefins. Recently, various N-substituted Cr-bis(diphenylphosphino)amine (PNP-Cr) catalysts show the potential as excellent candidates for highly selective ethylene trimerization/tetramerization. In this work, a series of aryl-substituted PNP-Cr catalysts were studied by two-dimensional quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) method based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The heuristic method (HM) and best multi-linear regression (BMLR) were used to establish the best linear regression models to describe the relationship between selectivities and catalyst structures. Both Cr(I) and Cr(II) active site models for ethylene trimerization/tetramerization were considered. It was found that 1) the relativity and stability of the models were increased by using self-defined descriptors based on DFT calculations; 2) Cr(I)/Cr(III) centers were the most plausible active sites for ethylene trimerization, while Cr(II)/Cr(IV) active sites were most possibly responsible for ethylene tetramerization; and 3) the skeleton structures of the PNP-Cr system with good complanation and symmetry were crucial for achieving excellent catalytic selectivity of 1-octene, while the PNP-Cr backbone with a large steric effect on N atom would benefit ethylene trimerization. Six new PNP ligands with high selectivity toward ethylene trimerization/tetramerization were predicted based on descriptor analysis and the best linear regression models providing a good basis for further development of novel catalyst systems with better performance.

Tailoring iron complexes for ethylene oligomerization and/or polymerization

Recent progress in the use of iron-based complex pre-catalysts for ethylene reactivity is reviewed, illustrating the current state-of-the-art and the potential usefulness of such systems for delivering solely ethylene oligomerization or polymerization products. The problems associated with the industrial use of late transition metal complex pre-catalysts are generally regarded as catalyst deactivation and the formation of more products of lower molecular weight at elevated temperature. These problems have been addressed for iron-based complex pre-catalysts via the fine tuning of substituents of existing ligands and/or the design of new ligand sets. Results revealed that modified bis(imino)pyridyliron dichlorides were capable of operating at elevated temperatures, and were capable of delivering highly linear polyethylene. Other new models of iron complexes have achieved high activity for ethylene oligomerization and/or polymerization. Particularly successful has been the use of the 2-iminophenanthrolyliron pre-catalyst, which have now been utilized in a 500 tonne pilot plant.