Advances in polyolefin catalysis since the mid 1990s have increased the demand for 1-hexene and 1-octene relative to other alpha olefins. While commercial processes to convert ethylene specifically to 1-hexene exist, production of adventitious byproducts such as C<sub>10</sub> olefins and polyethylene remain a challenge. This lecture will discuss efforts toward a commercial process to produce 1-hexene using cyclometallated chromium complexes based on the versatile pyridyl amine ligand as catalysts. The importance of selecting appropriate criteria in catalyst optimization via high throughput screening, and the challenges inherent in scale-up from HTE batch screening to continuous unit operations will also be discussed.

Ethylene to 1-hexene: From HTE to continuous unit operations with cyclometallated pyridyl amine chromium catalysts

250th National Meeting (2015)

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