Ubed S. F. Arrozi, Corina J. Lestari, Yessi Permana
Ethylene oligomerization, a reaction of significant industrial relevance, was effectively catalyzed by Ni(II) immobilized within two distinct zirconium-based MOFs, namely, UiO-67 and UiO-67bpydc (bpydc = (2,2′-bipyridine)-5,5′-dicarboxylic acid). These frameworks differ in the nature of their anchoring sites, which in turn influences their catalytic performance. Under identical reaction conditions—1730 eq. of Et2AlCl as co-catalyst, 10 bar of ethylene, 24°C, 1 h, and toluene as solvent—Ni(II) coordinated to the zirconium clusters of UiO-67 exhibited superior catalytic activity compared to Ni(II) bound to the bpydc linkers of UiO-67bpydc (1578 vs. 196 mmol Ni−1 h−1, respectively). Variation in the amount of Et2AlCl co-catalyst and the applied ethylene pressure revealed that reducing the co-catalyst concentration to 870 eq. enhanced its catalytic activity (1930 mmol Ni−1 h−1) relative to 1730 eq., whereas further reduction led to complete loss of activity. In addition, the optimal ethylene pressure for achieving maximum activity was identified as 10 bar, while reactions conducted at 5 and 20 bar afforded lower activities of 1077 and 1464 mmol Ni−1 h−1, respectively. © 2026 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Sciences, State University of Malang, Malang, Indonesia; Inorganic and Physical Chemistry Research Division, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia
