1-Octene is a commodity chemical most often used in the production of LPDE plastic. The majority of the 1-octene industrial production is via non-specific ethylene polymerization followed by isolation of the desired product. The ethylene is obtained by fischer-tropsch synthesis.   Due to the relative inefficiency of the 1-octene production method, several alternative routes have been examined to increase efficiency for the process.  Recently Sasol licensed a patent that generates 1-octene from heptene through a low pressure hydroformylation technology [1].  This technology improves yield for existing plants.  A novel ethylene tetramerisation catalyst has been developed that reports a 70% yield of 1-octene [2]. This chromium (III) based catalyst drives the production of 1-octene through a metallocyclic intermediate as illustrated below [3]. This mechanism is analogous to the well-known trimerisation reaction of ethylene to generate 1-hexene.

[1] http://news.dow.com/dow_news/prodbus/2006/20060613c.htm

[2] Bollmann, A., Blann, K., Dixon, J.T., Hess, F.M., Kilian, E., Maumela, H., McGuinness, D.S., Morgan, D.H., Neveling, A., Otto, S., Overett, M., Slawin, A.M.Z., Wasserscheid, P., Kuhlmann, S., 2004, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126 , 14712-14713.  

[3] Overett, M.J., Blann, K., Bollman, A., Dixon, J.T., Haasbroek, D., Killian, E., Maumela, H., McGuinness, D.S., Morgan, D.H., 2005, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 127 , 10723-10730.