DFT study on the impact of the methylaluminoxane cocatalyst in ethylene oligomerization using a titanium-based catalyst

Farhan Ahmad Pasha, Jean-Marie Basset, Hervé Toulhoat, Theodorus J M De Bruin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

A computational study within the framework of density functional theory is presented on the oligomerization of ethylene to yield 1-hexene using [(η5-C5H4CMe2C6H5)]TiCl3/MAO] catalyst. This study explicitly takes into account a methylaluminoxane (MAO) cocatalyst model, where the MAO cluster has become an anionic species after having abstracted one chloride anion, yielding a cationic activated catalyst. Hence, the reaction profile was calculated using the zwitterionic system, and the potential energy surface has been compared to the cationic catalytic system. Modest differences were found between the two free energy profiles. However, we show for the first time that the use of a realistic zwitterionic model is required to obtain a Brønsted-Evans-Polanyi relationship between the energy barriers and reaction energies.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)426-431
Number of pages6
JournalOrganometallics
Volume34
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 7 2015

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): UK-C0017
Acknowledgements: The authors acknowledge OCRF King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) KSA for Award No. UK-C0017.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Organic Chemistry
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Inorganic Chemistry

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