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Pt/SrTiO3 nanoparticle catalysts have been synthesized by surface organometallic chemistry in solution on a 5 g scale. Pt/SrTiO3 selectively and repeatedly upcycles isotactic polypropylene into uniform liquid products with Mn ∼ 200 Da.

An improved hydrothermal synthesis of shape-controlled, size-controlled 60 nm SrTiO3 nanocuboid (STO NC) supports, which facilitates the scalable creation of platinum nanoparticle catalysts supported on STO (Pt/STO) for the chemical conversion of waste polyolefins, is reported herein. This synthetic method (1) establishes that STO nucleation prior to the hydrothermal treatment favors nanocuboid formation, (2) produces STO NC supports with average sizes ranging from 25 to 80 nm with narrow size distributions, and (3) demonstrates how SrCO3 formation and variation in solution pH prevent the formation of STO NCs. The STO synthesis was scaled-up and conducted in a 4 L batch reactor, resulting in STO NCs of comparable size and morphology (m = 22.5 g, davg = 58.6 ± 16.2 nm) to those synthesized under standard hydrothermal conditions in a lab-scale 125 mL autoclave reactor. Size-controlled STO NCs, ranging in roughly 10 nm increments from 25 to 80 nm, were used to support Pt deposited through strong electrostatic adsorption (SEA), a practical and scalable solution-based method. Using SEA techniques and an STO support with an average size of 39.3 ± 6.3 nm, a Pt/STO catalyst with 3.6 wt % Pt was produced and used for high-density polyethylene hydrogenolysis under previously reported conditions (170 psi H2, 300 °C, 96 h; final product: Mw = 2400, Đ = 1.03). As a well-established model system for studying the behavior of heterogeneous catalysts and their supports, the Pt/STO system detailed in this work presents a unique opportunity to simultaneously convert waste plastic into commercially viable products while gaining insight into how scalable inorganic synthesis can support transformative manufacturing.

Aryl carbonates, a common protecting group in synthetic organic chemistry, are potentially valuable electrophiles in cross-coupling reactions. Here, after performing a thorough evaluation of different precatalysts, we demonstrate that (dcypf)Ni(2-ethylphenyl)(Br) (dcypf = 1,1-bis-(dicyclohexylphosphino)ferrocene) is an efficient precatalyst for Suzuki-Miyaura reactions using a variety of aryl carbonates as substrates. Mechanistic studies indicate that (dcypf)Ni(2-ethylphenyl)(Br), which contains a bidentate phosphine that binds in a trans geometry, is an effective precatalyst for these reactions for two reasons: (i) it rapidly forms the Ni(O) active species and (ii) it minimizes comproportionation reactions between the Ni(O) active species and both the unactivated Ni(II) precatalyst and on-cycle Ni(II) complexes to form catalytically inactive Ni(I) species. In contrast, the state of the art precatalyst (dppf)Ni(o-tolyl)(Cl) (dppf = 1,1-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocene), which contains a bidentate phosphine that binds in a cis geometry, forms Ni(I) species during activation and is essentially inactive for aryl carbonate couplings. Although the exact reasons on a molecular level why the dcypf system is more active than the dppf system are unclear, our results indicate that in general Ni catalysts supported by the dcypf ligand will give better performance for catalytic reactions involving substrates which undergo relatively slow oxidative addition, such as aryl carbonates.

Complexes of the type (η3-allyl)Pd(L)(Cl) and (η3-indenyl)Pd(L)(Cl) are highly active precatalysts for the Suzuki–Miyaura reaction. Even though allyl and indenyl ligands are similar to cyclopentadienyl (Cp) ligands, there have been no detailed comparative studies exploring the activity of precatalysts of the type (η5-Cp)Pd(L)(Cl) for Suzuki–Miyaura reactions. Here, we compare the catalytic activity of (η5-Cp)Pd(IPr)(Cl) (IPr = 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-1,3-dihydro-2H-imidazol-2-ylidene, Cp) with two commercially available catalysts (η3-cinnamyl)Pd(IPr)(Cl) (Cin) and (η3-1-t-Bu-indenyl)Pd(IPr)(Cl) (tBuInd). We show that Cp gives slightly better catalytic activity than Cin, but significantly inferior activity than tBuInd. This order of activity is rationalized by comparing the rates at which the precatalysts are activated to the monoligated Pd(0) active species along with the tendency of the starting precatalysts to comproportionate with monoligated Pd(0) to form inactive Pd(I) dimers. As part of this work the Cp supported Pd(I) dimer (μ-Cp)(μ-Cl)Pd2(IPr)2 (CpDim) was synthesized and crystallographically characterized. It does not readily disproportionate to form monoligated Pd(0) and consequently CpDim is a poor catalyst for the Suzuki–Miyaura reaction.