The Active Sites in the Phillips Catalysts: Origins of a Lively Debate and a Vision for the Future

Mechanistic Insights of Ethylene Polymerization on Phillips Chromium Catalysts

Silica-supported chromium oxide catalysts, also named Phillips chromium catalysts (PCCs), provide more than half of the world's production of high- and medium-density polyethylenes. PCCs are usually prepared in the Cr(VI)/SiO2 form, which is subjected to reductive activation. It has been explicitly proven that CO reduces Cr(VI) to Cr(II) species that initiate ethylene polymerization; ethylene activates Cr(VI) sites as well, but the nature of the catalytic species is complicated by the presence of the ethylene oxidation products. It is widely accepted that the catalytic species are of a Cr(III)-alkyl nature, but this common assumption faces the challenge of "extra" hydrogen: the formation of similar species under the action of even-electron reducing agents requires an additional H atom. Relatively recently, it was found that saturated hydrocarbons can also activate CrOx/SiO2, and alkyl fragments turn out to be bonded with a polyethylene chain. In recent years, there have been numerous experimental and theoretical studies of the structure and chemistry of PCCs at the different stages of preparation and activation. The use of modern spectral methods (such as extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES), and others); operando IR, UV-vis, EPR, and XAS spectroscopies; and theoretical approaches (DFT modeling, machine learning) clarified many essential aspects of the mechanisms of CrOx/SiO2 activation and catalytic behavior. Overall, the Cosse-Arlman mechanism of polymerization on Cr(III)-alkyl centers is confirmed in many works, but its theoretical support required the development of nontrivial and contentious mechanistic concepts of Cr(VI)/SiO2 or Cr(II)/SiO2 activation. On the other hand, conflicting experimental data continue to be obtained, and certain mechanistic concepts are being developed with the use of outdated models. Strictly speaking, the main question of what type of catalytic species, Cr(II), Cr(III), or Cr(IV), comes into polymerization still has not received an unambiguous answer. The role of the chemical nature of the support-through the prism of the nature, geometry, and distribution of the active sites-is also not clear in depth. In the present review, we endeavored to summarize and discuss the recent studies in the field of the preparation, activation, and action of PCCs, with a focus on existing contradictions in the interpretation of the experimental and theoretical results.

Active Sites in Cr(III)-Based Ethylene Polymerization Catalysts from Machine-Learning-Supported XAS and EPR Spectroscopy

The ethylene polymerization Phillips catalyst has been employed for decades and is central to the polymer industry. While Cr(III) alkyl species are proposed to be the propagating sites, there is so far no direct experimental evidence for such proposal. In this work, by coupling Surface organometallic chemistry, EPR spectroscopy, and machine learning-supported XAS studies, we have studied the electronic structure of well-defined silica-supported Cr(III) alkyls and identified the presence of several surface species in high and low-spin states, associated with different coordination environments. Notably, low-spin Cr(III) sites are shown to participate in ethylene polymerization, indicating that similar Cr(III) alkyl species could be involved in the related Phillips catalyst.

The Role of In Situ/Operando IR Spectroscopy in Unraveling Adsorbate-Induced Structural Changes in Heterogeneous Catalysis

Heterogeneous catalysts undergo thermal- and/or adsorbate-induced dynamic changes under reaction conditions, which consequently modify their catalytic behavior. Hence, it is increasingly crucial to characterize the properties of a catalyst under reaction conditions through the so-called "operando" approach. Operando IR spectroscopy is probably one of the most ubiquitous and versatile characterization methods in the field of heterogeneous catalysis, but its potential in identifying adsorbate- and thermal-induced phenomena is often overlooked in favor of other less accessible methods, such as XAS spectroscopy and high-resolution microscopy. Without detracting from these techniques, and while aware of the enormous value of a multitechnique approach, the purpose of this Review is to show that IR spectroscopy alone can provide relevant information in this field. This is done by discussing a few selected case studies from our own research experience, which belong to the categories of both "single-site"- and nanoparticle-based catalysts.

Chromium Complexes Supported by NNO-Tridentate Ligands: An Unprecedent Activity with the Low Requirement of MAO

The development of metal catalysts with high activity and thermal stability but low requirement of MAO as cocatalyst is highly desired for polyolefin industrial application. In this contribution, a series...

Ethylene polymerization with a crystallographically well-defined metal–organic framework supported catalyst

Crystallographic characterization of a heterogeneous ethylene polymerization catalyst elucidates a chromium–carbon bond after alkyl aluminum activation and provides mechanistic insights.

Correlating the Morphological Evolution of Individual Catalyst Particles to the Kinetic Behavior of Metallocene-Based Ethylene Polymerization Catalysts

Kinetics-based differences in the early stage fragmentation of two structurally analogous silica-supported hafnocene- and zirconocene-based catalysts were observed during gas-phase ethylene polymerization at low pressures. A combination of focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) and nanoscale infrared photoinduced force microscopy (IR PiFM) revealed notable differences in the distribution of the support, polymer, and composite phases between the two catalyst materials. By means of time-resolved probe molecule infrared spectroscopy, correlations between this divergence in morphology and the kinetic behavior of the catalysts' active sites were established. The rate of polymer formation, a property that is inherently related to a catalyst's kinetics and the applied reaction conditions, ultimately governs mass transfer and thus the degree of homogeneity achieved during support fragmentation. In the absence of strong mass transfer limitations, a layer-by-layer mechanism dominates at the level of the individual catalyst support domains under the given experimental conditions.

Support-Activity Relationship in Heterogeneous Catalysis for Biomass Valorization and Fine-Chemicals Production

Heterogeneous catalysts are progressively expanding their field of application, from high-throughput reactions for traditional industrial chemistry with production volumes reaching millions of tons per year, a sector in which they are key players, to more niche applications for the production of fine chemicals. These novel applications require a progressive utilization reduction of fossil feedstocks, in favor of renewable ones. Biomasses are the most accessible source of organic precursors, having as advantage their low cost and even distribution across the globe. Unfortunately, they are intrinsically inhomogeneous in nature and their efficient exploitation requires novel catalysts. In this process, an accurate design of the active phase performing the reaction is important; nevertheless, we are often neglecting the importance of the support in guaranteeing stable performances and improving catalytic activity. This review has the goal of gathering and highlighting the cases in which the supports (either derived or not from biomass wastes) share the worth of performing the catalysis with the active phase, for those reactions involving the synthesis of fine chemicals starting from biomasses as feedstocks.

Comparison of Support Effects on Phillips and Metallocene Catalysts

Both metallocene and Phillips chromium catalysts are used in the commercial manufacture of polyethylene. Unlike most other commercial metallocene systems, the Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPC) platform does not use methylaluminoxane or fluoroorganic boranes. Instead, the support itself serves to activate (ionize) the metallocenes, which then polymerize ethylene at high activity. Most of these solid acid supports can also be used to anchor Cr to make a Phillips catalyst. This provides an interesting opportunity to compare the polymerization responses by these two disparate systems, Phillips Cr and CPC metallocene, when supported on the same solid acid carriers. In this study, both chromium oxide and several metallocenes were deposited onto a variety of solid oxides, under a variety of conditions, and the resulting support effects were observed and compared. Although using seemingly different chemistries, the two catalyst systems exhibited a surprising number of similarities, which can be attributed to the acidity and porosity of these diverse supports.

Deciphering the Phillips Catalyst by Orbital Analysis and Supervised Machine Learning from Cr Pre-edge XANES of Molecular Libraries

Unveiling the nature and the distribution of surface sites in heterogeneous catalysts, and for the Phillips catalyst (CrO₃/SiO₂) in particular, is still a grand challenge despite more than 60 years of research. Commonly used references in Cr K-edge XANES spectral analysis rely on bulk materials (Cr-foil, Cr₂O₃) or molecules (CrCl₃) that significantly differ from actual surface sites. In this work, we built a library of Cr K-edge XANES spectra for a series of tailored molecular Cr complexes, varying in oxidation state, local coordination environment, and ligand strength. Quantitative analysis of the pre-edge region revealed the origin of the pre-edge shape and intensity distribution. In particular, the characteristic pre-edge splitting observed for Cr(III) and Cr(IV) molecular complexes is directly related to the electronic exchange interactions in the frontier orbitals (spin-up and -down transitions). The series of experimental references was extended by theoretical spectra for potential active site structures and used for training the Extra Trees machine learning algorithm. The most informative features of the spectra (descriptors) were selected for the prediction of Cr oxidation states, mean interatomic distances in the first coordination sphere, and type of ligands. This set of descriptors was applied to uncover the site distribution in the Phillips catalyst at three different stages of the process. The freshly calcined catalyst consists of mainly Cr(VI) sites. The CO-exposed catalyst contains mainly Cr(II) silicates with a minor fraction of Cr(III) sites. The Phillips catalyst exposed to ethylene contains mainly highly coordinated Cr(III) silicates along with unreduced Cr(VI) sites.

Influence of Metal-Alkyls on Early-Stage Ethylene Polymerization over a Cr/SiO2 Phillips Catalyst: A Bulk Characterization and X-ray Chemical Imaging Study

The Cr/SiO2 Phillips catalyst has taken a central role in ethylene polymerization since its invention in 1953. The uniqueness of this catalyst is related to its ability to produce broad molecular weight distribution (MWD) PE materials as well as that no co-catalysts are required to attain activity. Nonetheless, co-catalysts in the form of metal-alkyls can be added for scavenging poisons, enhancing catalyst activity, reducing the induction period, and tailoring polymer characteristics. The activation mechanism and related polymerization mechanism remain elusive, despite extensive industrial and academic research. Here, we show that by varying the type and amount of metal-alkyl co-catalyst, we can tailor polymer properties around a single Cr/SiO2 Phillips catalyst formulation. Furthermore, we show that these different polymer properties exist in the early stages of polymerization. We have used conventional polymer characterization techniques, such as size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and 13 C NMR, for studying the metal-alkyl co-catalyst effect on short-chain branching (SCB), long-chain branching (LCB) and molecular weight distribution (MWD) at the bulk scale. In addition, scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) was used as a synchrotron technique to study the PE formation in the early stages: allowing us to investigate the produced type of early-stage PE within one particle cross-section with high energy resolution and nanometer scale spatial resolution.

Importance learning estimator for the site-averaged turnover frequency of a disordered solid catalyst

For disordered catalysts such as atomically dispersed "single-atom" metals on amorphous silica, the active sites inherit different properties from their quenched-disordered local environments. The observed kinetics are site-averages, typically dominated by a small fraction of highly active sites. Standard sampling methods require expensive ab initio calculations at an intractable number of sites to converge on the site-averaged kinetics. We present a new method that efficiently estimates the site-averaged turnover frequency (TOF). The new estimator uses the same importance learning algorithm [Vandervelden et al., React. Chem. Eng. 5, 77 (2020)] that we previously used to compute the site-averaged activation energy. We demonstrate the method by computing the site-averaged TOF for a simple disordered lattice model of an amorphous catalyst. The results show that with the importance learning algorithm, the site-averaged TOF and activation energy can now be obtained concurrently with orders of magnitude reduction in required ab initio calculations.

Tuning the Redox Chemistry of a Cr/SiO2 Phillips Catalyst for Controlling Activity, Induction Period and Polymer Properties

The Cr/SiO2 Phillips catalyst has taken a central role in ethylene polymerization ever since its discovery in 1953. This catalyst is unique compared to other ethylene polymerization catalysts, since it is active without the addition of a metal-alkyl co-catalyst. However, metal-alkyls can be added for scavenging poisons, enhancing the catalyst activity, reducing the induction period and altering polymer characteristics. Despite extensive research into the working state of the catalyst, still no consensus has been reached. Here, we show that by varying the type of metal-alkyl co-catalyst and its amount, the Cr redox chemistry can be tailored, resulting in distinct catalyst activities, induction periods, and polymer characteristics. We have used in-situ UV-Vis-NIR diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) for studying the Cr oxidation state during the reduction by tri-ethyl borane (TEB) or tri-ethyl aluminum (TEAl) and during subsequent ethylene polymerization. The results show that TEB primarily acts as a reductant and reduces Cr6+ with subsequent ethylene polymerization resulting in rapid polyethylene formation. TEAl generated two types of Cr2+ sites, inaccessible Cr3+ sites and active Cr4+ sites. Subsequent addition of ethylene also revealed an increased reducibility of residual Cr6+ sites and resulted in rapid polyethylene formation. Our results demonstrate the possibility of controlling the reduction chemistry by adding the proper amount and type of metal-alkyl for obtaining desired catalyst activities and tailored polyethylene characteristics.

Disclosing the Interaction between Carbon Monoxide and Alkylated Ti3+ Species: a Direct Insight into Ziegler-Natta Catalysis

In the field of Ziegler-Natta catalysis for olefin polymerization, carbon monoxide (CO) is used in the industrial practice to quench the reaction when it proceeds too fast, approaching critical levels for the plant safety. The quenching effect is explained as due to the reversible coordination of CO to the titanium active sites, but no direct evidence has been ever reported. In this work, we designed a series of experiments to monitor CO adsorption at variable temperatures on a model Ziegler-Natta catalyst by means of FT-IR spectroscopy. For the first time, we have been able to spectroscopically detect CO coordinated to alkylated Ti³⁺ sites and the Ti-acyl species formed upon the subsequent insertion of CO into the Ti³⁺-alkyl bond, both in the absence and in the presence of the olefin monomer. In perspective, this has important implications for the characterization of the active sites in industrial Ziegler-Natta catalysts, even under working conditions.

Ultrahigh Photocatalytic Rate at a Single-Metal-Atom-Oxide

Metal oxides, as one of the mostly abundant and widely utilized materials, are extensively investigated and applied in environmental remediation and protection, and in energy conversion and storage. Most of these diverse applications are the result of a large diversity of the electronic states of metal oxides. Noticeably, however, many metal oxides present obstacles for applications in catalysis, mainly due to the lack of efficient active sites with desired electronic states. Here, the fabrication of single-tungsten-atom-oxide (STAO) is demonstrated, in which the metal oxide's volume reaches its minimum as a unit cell. The catalytic mechanism in the STAO is determined by a new single-site physics mechanism, named as quasi-atom physics. The photogenerated electron transfer process is enabled by an electron in the spin-up channel excited from the highest occupied molecular orbital to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital +1 state, which can only occur in STAO with W⁵⁺ . STAO results in a record-high and stable sunlight photocatalytic degradation rate of 0.24 s^-1 , which exceeds the rates of available photocatalysts by two orders of magnitude. The fabrication of STAO and its unique quasi-atom photocatalytic mechanism lays new ground for achieving novel physical and chemical properties using single-metal-atom oxides (SMAO).

Single-Sites and Nanoparticles at Tailored Interfaces Prepared via Surface Organometallic Chemistry from Thermolytic Molecular Precursors

Heterogeneous catalysts are complex by nature, making particularly difficult to assess the structure of their active sites. Such complexity is inherited in part from their mode of preparation, which typically involves coprecipitation or impregnation of metal salts in aqueous solution, and the associated complex surface chemistries. In this context, surface organometallic chemistry (SOMC) has emerged as a powerful approach to generate well-defined surface species, where the metal sites are introduced by grafting tailored molecular precursors. When combined with thermolytic molecular precursors (TMPs) that can lose their organic moieties quite readily upon thermal treatment, SOMC provides access to supported isolated metal sites with defined oxidation state and nuclearity inherited from the precursor. The resulting surface species bear unusual coordination imposed by the surface that provides them high reactivity in comparison with their molecular precursor. In addition, these molecularly defined species bare strong resemblance with the active sites of supported metal oxides. However, they typically contain a higher proportion of active sites making structure-activity relationship possible. They thus constitute ideal models for this important class of industrial catalysts that are used in numerous applications such as olefin epoxidation (Shell process), olefin metathesis (triolefin process), ethylene polymerization (Phillips catalysts), or propane dehydrogenation (Catofin and related processes). This SOMC/TMP approach can thus provide detailed information about the structure of active sites in industrial catalysts, their mode of initiation and deactivation, as well as the role of the support and specific thermal treatment on the final activity of the catalysts. Nonetheless, these structurally characterized surface sites still exhibit heterogeneous environments borrowed from the support itself, that explain the intrinsic complexity of heterogeneous catalysis. Furthermore, SOMC/TMP can also be used to generate and investigate supported metal nanoparticles. Starting from the well-defined isolated sites, that also contain adjacent surface OH groups, one can graft a second metal and then generate after treatment under hydrogen small and narrowly dispersed alloys or nanoparticles with tailored interfaces that can show improved catalytic performances and are amiable to detailed structure-activity relationships. This approach is illustrated by two case studies: (1) formation of supported copper nanoparticles at tailored interfaces that contain isolated metal sites for the selective hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to methanol, allowing for a detailed understanding of the role of dopants and supports in heterogeneous catalysis, and (2) preparation of highly selective and productive propane dehydrogenation catalysts based on silica-supported Pt _xGa _y alloy. Overall, this Account shows how the combination of SOMC and TMP helps to generate catalysts, particularly suited for elucidating structural characterization of active sites at a molecular-level which in turn enables structure-activity relationship to be drawn. Such detailed information obtained on well-defined catalysts can then be used to understand complex effects observed in industrial catalysts (effects of supports, additives, dopants, etc.), and to extract information that can then be used to improve them in a more rational way.