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Updated: Jul 2, 2026

Ethylene Polymerizations Using Parallel Pressure Reactors and a Kinetic Analysis of Chain Transfer Polymerization
Published on: November 27, 2015
Discovery and optimization of new chromium catalysts for ethylene oligomerization and polymerization aided by
David J Jones1, Vernon C Gibson, Simon M Green
1Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
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 ortho-triptycenyl-substituted Schiff bases with pyridylmethyl or quinolyl substituents. Validation tests confirmed polymerization productivities of up to 3000 g x mmol(-1)h(-1)bar(-1) for the polymerization catalyst systems while the oligomerization catalysts gave productivities up to 10 000 g x mmol(-1)h(-1)bar(-1). Key catalyst precursors have been characterized by X-ray crystallography.
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