Temperature Dependence of the Activity of a Late Transition Metal Catalyst by Molecular Modeling

A combination of molecular mechanics and the charge equilibration method was applied and further developed to predicting the catalyst activity of a metal complex. A late transition metal catalyst, {di-μ-bromotetra [N,N′-bis(3,5-dimethylanil)-4-methyl-2,6-bis(imino)phenoxy]nickel} bromide (MOL) was dealt with. A modified molecular force field from universal force field was set and validated for this system. Simulations predict that the activity of MOL varies little with temperature. Simulation results were in good agreement with experimental results for ethylene oligomerization with MOL. Temperature dependence of QEq charge on the Ni central atom of MOL.