Polymerization of Ethylene by Silica-Supported Dinuclear CrIII Sites through an Initiation Step Involving CH Bond Activation.

The insertion of an olefin into a preformed metal-carbon bond is a common mechanism for transition-metal-catalyzed olefin polymerization. However, in one important industrial catalyst, the Phillips catalyst, a metal-carbon bond is not present in the precatalyst. The Phillips catalyst, CrO₃ dispersed on silica, polymerizes ethylene without an activator. Despite 60 years of intensive research, the active sites and the way the first CrC bond is formed remain unknown. We synthesized well-defined dinuclear Cr^II and Cr^III sites on silica. Whereas the Cr^II material was a poor polymerization catalyst, the Cr^III material was active. Poisoning studies showed that about 65 % of the Cr^III sites were active, a far higher proportion than typically observed for the Phillips catalyst. Examination of the spent catalyst and isotope labeling experiments showed the formation of a Si-(μ-OH)-Cr^III species, consistent with an initiation mechanism involving the heterolytic activation of ethylene at Cr^IIIO bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]