Investigations on the Multicentered Active Sites of Ziegler–Natta Polypropylene Catalysts through Multi-Models of the MgCl2 Support
Shuxuan Tang, Haitao Liu, Zhuang Zhuang, Xiaoxia Cai, Xiaofan Zhang, Qilong Zhou · 2026
Read Investigations on the Multicentered Active Sites of Ziegler–Natta Polypropylene Catalysts through Multi-Models of the MgCl2 Support by Shuxuan Tang, Haitao Liu, Zhuang Zhuang, Xiaoxia Cai, Xiaofan Zhang, Qilong Zhou (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13280917.txt.
Description
Shuxuan Tang and colleagues published a 2026 theory study of the Ziegler-Natta catalyst, the workhorse behind more than 90 percent of industrial polypropylene. These catalysts grow plastic chains at many different active sites, and the spread among sites sets the polymer's molecular weight distribution. Internal electron donors, added during catalyst preparation, shape those sites, yet their influence had rarely been modeled. The team built magnesium chloride support models and computed, with density functional theory, how strongly two diether and two diester donors stick to the support, with and without titanium attached.
Adsorption strength hinged on donor flex and bulk, and on the support's acidity and surface geometry. The computed adsorption energies lined up well with the observed molecular weight distributions for the catalysts. The authors offer this as a design shortcut: screen donors in the computer to predict the plastic's weight spread before synthesizing anything.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Shuxuan Tang, Haitao Liu, Zhuang Zhuang, Xiaoxia Cai, Xiaofan Zhang, Qilong Zhou |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 35 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |