Inorganic Chemistry Commons^™

Development And Implementation Of Redox-Active Olefin Polymerization Catalysts, William Curtis Anderson Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Investigating homogeneous polymerization catalysts has been a thriving area of chemistry in the academic realm for several decades now, and has helped drive the development of a range of materials, from designer plastics to cheap commodity polymers. Billions of pounds of these materials are produced every year, which ensures that continuing research in the area will be necessary to improve current processes and enable more economic use of our resources.

This dissertation showcases the Long group’s research in homogeneous polymerization catalysis and our impact on the field thus far. We show that intelligent design of redox-active catalysts allows for a …

Hydroformylation And Aldehyde-Water Shift Catalysis By Dirhodium Tetraphosphine Complexes, Marshall Douglas Moulis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The use of a unique tetraphosphine ligand (et,ph-P4) allows for the chelating of two rhodium centers to perform bimetallic coopertivity in hydroformylation reactions to better the yields the linear aldehyde product. The proposed catalyst is [Rh₂(μ-H)₂(CO)₄(rac-et,ph-P4)]²⁺ and has been studied by in situ FT-IR and NMR. When tested in a polar phasic acetone/water (30 % by vol.), the catalyst forms a monocationic system [Rh₂(μ-H)₂(CO)₄(rac-et,ph-P4)]⁺ that has an initial TOF of 26 min^-1, selectivity of 27:1 L:B, and low byproducts of …