Ethylene catalysts, palladium complexes

The first examples of highly active olefin polymerization catalysts based on late transition metals were nickel and palladium complexes containing bulky diimine ligands.310 312 For example, complex (120) was found to polymerize ethylene with an activity of ll,000gmmol h bar A range of PE materials with molecular weights up to 106 and... 

Several combinatorial approaches to the discovery of transition metal based catalysts for olefin polymerization have been described. In one study Brookhart-type polymer-bound Ni- and Pd-(l,2-diimine) complexes were prepared and used in ethylene polymerization (Scheme 3).60,61 A resin-bound diketone was condensed with 48 commercially available aminoarenes having different steric properties. The library was then split into 48 nickel and 48 palladium complexes by reaction with [NiBr2(dme)] and [PdClMe(COD)], respectively, all 96 pre-catalysts being spatially addressable. 

In new studies heteropoly acids as cocatalysts were found to be very effective in combination with oxygen in the oxidation of ethylene.1311 Addition of phosphomo-lybdic acid to a chloride ion-free Pd(II)-Cu(II) catalyst system results in a great increase in catalytic activity and selectivity.1312 Aerobic oxidation of terminal alkenes to methy ketones can be performed with Pd(OAc)21313 or soluble palladium complexes. Modified cyclodextrins accelerates reaction rates and enhance selectivities in two-phase systems under mild conditions.1315 1316... 

Acetylene hydrogenation. Selective hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene is performed at 200°C over sulfided nickel catalysts or carbon-monoxide-poisoned palladium on alumina catalyst. Without the correct amount of poisoning, ethane would be the product. Continuous feed of sulfur or carbon monoxide must occur or too much hydrogen is chemisorbed on the catalyst surface. Complex control systems analyze the amount of acetylene in an ethylene cracker effluent and automatically adjust the poisoning level to prepare the catalyst surface for removing various quantities of acetylene with maximum selectivity. 

During their work on the arylation of aromatic compounds by substitution, Fujiwara, et al. observed biaryl formation when aromatic compounds were placed in the presence of olefin-palladium complexes and silver nitrate.80 Developing this reaction as a method for biphenyl synthesis, these authors showed that the more stable the olefin-palladium complex was, the lower the yield. Ethylene dichloropalladium proved to be the best choice, when used with silver nitrate. However, the reaction required stoichiometric amounts of both catalysts (Scheme 10.47). Benzene derivatives substituted by electron-donating or -withdrawing groups reacted as well, but a mixture of regioisomers was produced, except for nitrobenzene, which only gave m,m -dinitrobiphenyl. 

Unlike early transition metal polymerization catalysts which do not tolerate functional groups, cationic palladium complexes are able to copolymerize ethylene with methyl acrylate.128... 

One of the more extraordinary recent developments in nickel and palladium polyalkene catalysis has been the development of a-diimines with bulky substituents as ligands in nickel and palladium complexes. When bulky aryl groups are used (R = isopropyl), these catalysts polymerize ethylene with high activities to high molecular weight highly branched... 

Palladium complexes figure prominently as well in the copolymerization of Q -olefins with carbon monoxide. Unlike the low molecular weight photodegradable random copolymers of ethylene and CO produced from a free-radical process, olefin/carbon monoxide copolymers produced from homogeneous palladium catalysts are perfectly alternating, the result of successive insertions of olefin and CO (Figure 19). Consecutive insertion of two similar monomers is either slow... 

During the following 15 years, only small advances were achieved in increasing catalyst efficiencies. Independently, Fenton [9a] at Union Oil and Nozaki [9b] at Shell Development Company (USA) discovered several related palladium chlorides, palladium cyanides, and zero-valent palladium complexes as catalysts. Sen and co-workers [10] reported that cationic bis(triphenyl-phosphine)-palladium tetrafluoroborate complexes in aprotic solvents such as dichloromethane, produced ethylene/carbon monoxide copolymers under very mild conditions. The reaction rates were, however, very low, as were the molecular weights. 

The cationic palladium(II) complex [Pd(24a)3Cl]+ of the para-isomer of 24a (M = Na) catalyzes the carbonylation of benzyl chloride in basic medium to give phenyl-acetic acid in high yields. The Pd(0) complex [Pd(24a)3], formed by reduction of [Pd(24a)3Cl]+ with CO, is asumed to be the catalytic species [93] (see Scheme 1). Palladium complexes of ligands related to 24a (M = Na) have also been employed in aqueous ethylene glycol phases as catalysts for Suzuki-type C—C cross-coupling reactions for the syntheses of substituted biphenyls (cf. Section 6.6) [97]. 

Platinum complexes show none of the catalytic activity found in palladium and nickel complexes. This chemical inertness makes platinum a useful model for the more active catalysts. There has been a suggestion that platinum complexes of chiral a-diimines might lead to stereoselective olefin polymerization. Chiral camphor-based ligands have been employed in palladium complexes for ethylene polymerization, but there was no mention of stereoselectivity in hexene polymerizations. 

Catalyst libraries for combinatorial screening of diimine-based nickel and palladium catalysts can be developed by attaching a diketone to a Merrifield resin, reacting with a variety of anilines in the presence of a dehydrating catalyst, and complexing with the metal (Scheme 25). After each variant is activated with MAO or borate salt, the 96-well microtiter plate is exposed to ethylene and polymerization activity is qualitatively determined by infrared imaging. 

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