A Career in Catalysis: Max McDaniel

Abstract

Still going strong in his seventies, some of the work of Dr. Max McDaniel is briefly described in this account. Regarded as a titan of polyolefin catalysis by his industrial and academic colleagues, he arguably stands among the topmost important scientists to ever make contributions to the polyolefin industry. Several of the highlights and insights he has contributed to the field over his long and prolific career are summarized.

Organic Versus Inorganic Supports for Metallocenes: The Influence of Rigidity on the Homogeneity of the Polyolefin Microstructure and Properties

“…The more active the catalyst is, the faster fragmentation and accessibility to the inner active centers can occur. However, the possibility of producing polymers with a broad MW distribution employing metallocene catalysts might sometimes be interesting for special applications. ,,, …”

“…However, the possibility of producing polymers with a broad MW distribution employing metallocene catalysts might sometimes be interesting for special applications. 8,35,36,37 3.3.2. Study on Branching and Branch Distribution.…”

Chromium complexes supported by NNO-tridentate ligands: an unprecedented activity with the requirement of a small amount of MAO

“…Polyolefins have become the largest synthetic polymer materials that are still most commercially produced using the heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalyst 1 and Phillips catalyst. 2,3 However, the mounting demand for high-value-added polyolefins in recent years has spurred extensive interest in both industry and academia to develop homogeneous metal catalysts for olefin polymerization, [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] which are also beneficial for better understanding the polymerization mechanism and, in turn, are greatly helpful in developing new-generation catalysts with high-performances. [11][12][13] In the past few decades, a series of homogeneous metal catalysts, including metallocene 14 and non-metallocene catalysts, [15][16][17][18][19][20][21] have been developed and applied to synthesize a variety of high-value-added polyolefins, such as polar functionalized polyethylene, [22][23][24][25] ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), 26,27 syndiotactic polypropylene (sPP), 28 syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS), 29 polyolefin elastomers (POE), 30 and cyclic olefin copolymers (COC).…”

The Active Sites in the Phillips Catalysts: Origins of a Lively Debate and a Vision for the Future

“…More than 65 years of industrial research led to the evolution of the original formulation and to the development of hundreds of variants, which make the Phillips catalyst among the most versatile catalytic system in industry. Only part of these industrial discoveries are disclosed in patents and even fewer are easily accessible in the form of scientific papers, the latter mainly due to the prolific activity of Max McDaniel …”

“…Only part of these industrial discoveries are disclosed in patents and even fewer are easily accessible in the form of scientific papers, the latter mainly due to the prolific activity of Max McDaniel. 9 On the other hand, academic research has been concentrated since the beginning to solve some fundamental questions, such as the structure of the active sites and the polymerization mechanism. 10−12 The first spectroscopic studies on model systems date back to the 1970s.…”