Patent ID: 8338324

Claim:
A method for preparing an activating support comprising: a) reacting phosphine R 3 P with a borane or an alane, wherein each R is independently selected from hydrogen, a substituted or unsubstituted aryl or alkyl having at most 10 carbon atoms, or an Si(R′O) 3-n R″ n wherein R′ and R″ are independently selected from alkyl having from 1 to 8 carbon atoms and n is 0, 1, 2 or 3, wherein not all Rs are hydrogen; b) optionally reacting the reaction product of step a) with a strong Bronsted acid HX wherein X is triflate (OTf) or halogen or OSi—|—SiO 2 or OS(O 2 )—R F —OSi—|—SiO 2 , or OS(O 2 )—R F —Si—|—SiO 2 , whererin R F is a perfluorinated alkyl chain; c) suspending the silica support in an apolar solvent and reacting the complex of step a) or step b) directly with the surface silanol of the silica support; and d) retrieving an activating support.