Achievement

Most industrial catalysts for the polymerization of ethylene into polyethylene (a plastic) require large amounts of a co-catalyst, such as methylaluminoxane (MAO). MAO is used in up to a thousand-fold excess and contributes significantly to the price and energy consumption of plastic production. IGERT Fellow Andrew Patrick has synthesized molecular complexes of iron that act as single-component catalysts for ethylene polymerization. Not only do these catalysts operate without MAO, they use the most abundant transition metal, iron. Many iron-catalyzed ethylene polymerizations in industry are poorly understood, as excessive MAO obscures analysis. In contrast, single-component catalysts are amenable to study. Patrick is elucidating the inner-workings of the new catalysts through mechanistic work at Cornell and a collaboration with Prof. Karl Wieghardt in Mühlheim, Germany. Their goal is rational optimization of iron catalysts and ultimately more efficient polymer production.