Discovery and optimization of new chromium catalysts for ethylene oligomerization and polymerization aided by high-throughput screening

Abstract

High throughput screening (HTS) of a 205 member Schiff base salicylaldimine ligand library derived from salicylaldehydes bearing bulky ortho-substituents, i.e., 9-anthracenyl, 1,4,5,8-tetramethylanthracenyl or triptycenyl, reacted in-situ with (p-tolyl)CrCl2(thf)3, identified two new classes of highly active chromium based systems for the Oligomerization and polymerization of ethylene, respectively. The polymerization system comprises bidentate ortho-substituted anthracenyl Schiff bases bearing small primary or secondary alkyl imine substituents. The Oligomerization catalysts are based upon tridentate orthotriptycenyl-substituted Schiff bases with pyridylmethyl or quinolyl substituents. Vali..