Table 1. Cross metathesis of HDPE-1 (120 mg) with n-hexane (7.7 M, 3 ml) using various γ-Al2O3– supported Ir catalysts (20.1 μmol Ir) and Re2O7/γ-Al2O3 (57 μmol Re2O7): The conversion of PE to oil and wax products and the distribution of soluble n-alkane products after heating the mixture for 3 days at 150°C.
The amounts of soluble products were determined by GC analysis with mesitylene as an internal standard. The amounts of n-hexane after the degradation reactions were not included. As the starting material, the intensity of the n-hexane signal was too strong (relative to other n-alkane products) to be precisely measured by GC analysis. Wax products are the isolated solid hydrocarbon products. Aside from wax products, the major products from PE degradation are liquid oil hydrocarbons. Thus, weight percentages (wt %) of oils from PE degradation were estimated with the mass of the starting PE minus the wax products. N/A, not applicable.
| Entry | Ir catalyst | HDPE-1(mg) |
Mass (mg) and concentration (mM) of soluble products |
Mass (g) and concentration (M) of total soluble products |
Wax products (mg) | Wt % of oils | ||||
| C3-C5 | C7-C12 | C13-C21 | C22-C30 | ≥C31 | ||||||
| 1 | 1 | 120 | 304/ 1553 |
671/ 1932 |
74/ 115 |
12/ 10 |
10/ 7 |
1.07/ 3.62 |
53 | 56% |
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 374/ 1926 |
788/ 2248 |
57/ 90 |
0.7/ 0.6 |
N/A | 1.22/ 4.27 |
N/A | N/A |
| 3 | 2 | 120 | 202/ 1073 |
416/ 1171 |
93/ 138 |
20/ 18 |
12/ 8 |
0.74/ 2.41 |
2 | 98% |
| 4 | 2 | 0 | 245/ 1290 |
597/ 1662 |
69/ 114 |
2/ 2 |
N/A | 0.91/ 3.07 |
N/A | N/A |
| 5 | 3 | 120 | 225/ 1180 |
523/ 1461 |
116/ 174 |
29/ 24 |
23/ 14 |
0.92/ 2.85 |
6 | 95% |