Electrochemical synthesis of chromium(iii) 2-ethylhexanoate and its catalytic activity in homogeneous trimerization of ethylene

Abstract

A method for electrochemical preparation of chromium(iii) 2-ethylhexanoate, [BuCH(Et)C(O)O]₃Cr, based on anodic dissolution of chromium metal in the presence of 2-ethylhexanoic acid in acetonitrile was developed. Bidentate coordination of carboxylate groups in chromium(iii) 2-ethylhexanoate was approved by Fourier transform IR spectroscopy. High catalytic activity (more than \(3.0\cdot 10^{4}\;\text{mol}_{\rm{C_{2}}\rm{H_{4}}}\;\text{mol}_{\text{Cr}}\!^{-1}\;\rm{h^{-1}}\)) of the synthesized compound was demonstrated in the homogeneous ethylene trimerization, which led to the formation of hex-1-ene with a practically quantitative yield of 99.7%.