EuChemS Historical Landmarks Award

Un Premio Nobel per un grande Futuro | Conferenze @ Dipartimento “G. Natta”
Chairperson: Prof. Maurizio S. Galimberti
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CATALISI

Luigi Cavallo | King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Arabia Saudita
Fabrizio Piemontesi | LyondellBasell

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The Evolution of Stereoselective Olefin Polymerization Modeling. From Stick and Ball Rationalization to Machine Learning Engineering

Luigi Cavallo
Prof. Luigi Cavallo earned his Ph.D. in 1991 at the University of Naples. From 1994 to 2001 he was an assistant professor of industrial chemistry at the University of Naples. In 2002, he moved as associate professor of industrial chemistry to the University of Salerno. In 2011 he joined the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, where is serves as Professor of Chemistry. He learned DFT in the group directed by Tom Ziegler, University of Calgary, Canada. He has been recipient of the 2002 - 12th Edition of the Prize “Bright Future in Chemistry”, awarded by the Italian Association of Chemical Industries to young researchers, and of the 2015 – Ziegler-Natta Lectureship Award, by the German Chemical Society.
Understanding (and possibly solving) catalytic problems using the armory of tools known as computational chemistry is the main activity of Prof. Cavallo. His areas of interest range from homogeneous to heterogeneous catalysis, aiming at clarifying structure/function relationships in catalytic systems. His current interests focus on contributing to improve chemical solutions to match the energy and environmental requests of a sustainable society.

Abstract:
This presentation delves into the narrative of stereoselective 1-olefin polymerization, particularly focusing on the synthesis of isotactic polypropylene. A material that has revolutionized modern lifestyles since its discovery by the visionary Nobel laureate, Prof. Giulio Natta, at Politecnico di Milano in 1954. Starting from the pioneering modeling efforts of heterogeneous TiCl3 catalysts by Prof. Natta's collaborators, we progress to explore the modeling of stereoselective propene polymerization using homogeneous catalysts. The presentation will conclude with an example of the evolving landscape of modeling techniques, particularly emphasizing the potential dominance of machine learning in the near future.

The Evolution of Industrial Stereoselective Olefin Polymerization catalysts. From TiCl₃ to modern MgCl₂ supported systems

Fabrizio Piemontesi
After the graduation in Chemistry at Università di Milano in 1987, and a post doc on the synthesis of late transition complexes for the oligomerization of olefins, in 1989 Fabrizio Piemontesi joined the group led by Prof. Umberto Giannini and dr. Enrico Albizzati in Guido Donegani Research Center (Himont, Novara). His first interest was on the synthesis and reactivity of Metallocene polymerization catalysts.
After moving on 1992 to Giulio Natta R&D Center (Himont, Ferrara) and continuing the researches on single site catalysts, he joined the Basell heterogeneous catalysis group in 2000.
The current role is Manager New Polyolefins in Ferrara LyondellBasell Giulio Natta R&D Center and he is responsible for the advanced study of experimental ZN catalysts in the autoclave synthesis of propylene impact copolymers. Relationship among catalyst features and polymer properties is the main focus of his current research work.
He is co-author of about 50 peer reviewed papers and co-inventor of more than 40 patents.

Abstract:
Seventy years ago, in a laboratory of the Politecnico di Milano, an inorganic catalyst precursor made of titanium and chlorine, activated with an organometallic compound of aluminum, produced a completely new polymer of propylene: isotactic polypropylene.
The importance of this discovery, later worldwide recognized by the Nobel Price to Prof. Giulio Natta, was suddenly understood by Montecatini. Only 3 years after the discovery, an industrial polymerization plant started to produce the first isotactic polypropylene grade in Ferrara petrolchimico using a first development of Giulio Natta catalyst.
In this lecture, the evolution of the catalyst systems exploited industrially to produce polypropylene grades with increasing value and properties will be covered.
In particular, an industrial view on the discovery of MgCl₂, a non-innocent support for TiCl₄/TiCl₃ catalytic sites, and the development introduced by the new ways to obtain MgCl₂ spherical supports, together with the role of Lewis Bases in controlling the propylene insertion toward polymer chains with increasing degrees of regularity constitute the core of this lecture.
New developments on industrial catalysts for the production of polyolefins will be also discussed.