Patent ID: 7141633

Claim:
A process for the trimerization of olefins, comprising contacting a monomeric olefin or mixture of olefins under trimerization reaction conditions in a trimerization reactor with a catalyst to produce a trimerization reaction product, which catalyst comprises: (a) a source of a Group 3 to 10 transition metal: (b) a ligand selected from the group consisting of: (2-methoxyphenyl)(phenyl)PN(Me)P(phenyl) 2 , (2-methoxyphenyl) 2 PN(Me)P(phenyl) 2 , (2-methoxyphenyl)(phenyl)PN(Me)P(2-methoxyphenyl)(phenyl), (2-methoxyphenyl) 2 PN(Me)P(2-methoxyphenyl) 2 , (2-ethoxyphenyl) 2 PN(Me)P(2-ethoxyphenyl) 2 , (2-isopropoxphenyl) 2 PN(Me)P(2-isopropoxyphenyl) 2 , (2-hydroxyphenyl) 2 PN(Me)P(2-hydroxyphenyl) 2 , (2-nitrophenyl) 2 PN(Me)P(2-nitrophenyl) 2 , (2,3-dimethoxyphenyl) 2 PN(Me)P(2,3-dimethoxyphenyl) 2 , (2,4-dimethoxyphenyl) 2 PN(Me)P(2,4-dimethoxyphenyl) 2 , (2,6-dimethoxyphenyl) 2 PN(Me)P(2,6-dimethoxyphenyl) 2 , (2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl) 2 PN(Me)P(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl) 2 , (2-dimethoxyphenyl)(2-methylphenyl)PN(Me)P(2-methylphenyl) 2 , [2-(dimethylamino)phenyl] 2 PN(Me)P[2-(dimethylamino)phenyl] 2 , (2-methoxymethoxyphenyl) 2 PN(Me)P(2-methoxymethoxyphenyl) 2 , (2-methoxyphenyl) 2 PN(Ethyl)P(2-methoxyphenyl) 2 , (2-methoxyphenyl) 2 PN(Phenyl)P(2-methoxyphenyl) 2 , (2-methoxyphenyl) 2 PN(Me)N(Me)P(2-methoxyphenyl) 2 , (2-methoxyphenyl) 2 PCH 2 P(2-methoxyphenyl) 2 (2-methoxyphenyl) 2 PCH 2 CH 2 P(2-methoxyphenyl) 2 , tri(2-methoxymethoxyphenyl)phosphane; and optionally (c) an activator.