Highly Active Heterogeneous Catalyst for Ethylene Dimerization Prepared by Selectively Doping Ni on the Surface of a Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework
Cailing Chen, Mohammed R. Alalouni, Xinglong Dong, Zhen Cao, Qingpeng Cheng, Lirong Zheng, Lingkun Meng, Chao Guan, Lingmei Liu, Edy Abou‐Hamad, Jianjian Wang, Zhan Shi, Kuo‐Wei Huang, Luigi Cavallo, Yu Han
Abstract
(1-butene selectivity >85%) at 35 °C and 50 bar, far exceeding the activities of previously reported heterogeneous catalysts and many homogeneous catalysts under similar conditions. Moreover, compared to molecular Ni complexes used as homogeneous catalysts for ethylene dimerization, Ni-ZIF-8 has significantly higher stability and shows constant activity during 4 h of continuous reaction. Isotopic labeling experiments indicate that ethylene dimerization over Ni-ZIF-8 follows the Cossee-Arlman mechanism, and detailed characterizations combined with density functional theory calculations rationalize this observed high activity.