The fascinating story of olefin (or alkene) metathesis (eq
1) began almost five decades ago, when Anderson and
Merckling reported the first carbon-carbon double-bond
rearrangement reaction in the titanium-catalyzed polymerization of norbornene. Nine years later, Banks and Bailey reported “a new disproportionation reaction . . . in which olefins are converted to homologues of shorter and longer carbon chains...”. In 1967, Calderon and co-workers named this metal-catalyzed redistribution of carbon-carbon double bonds olefin metathesis, from the Greek word “μeτάθeση”, which means change of position. These contributions have since served as the foundation for an amazing research field, and olefin metathesis currently represents a powerful transformation in chemical synthesis, attracting a vast amount of interest both in industry and academia.

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/4884240.pdf

Ruthenium-based heterocyclic carbene-coordinated olefin metathesis catalysts.

3.1.2. Huisgen [3 + 2] Cycloaddition Reaction 6313 3.1.3. Claisen Rearrangement 6315 3.2. Multicomponent Reactions 6316 3.3. Nucleophilic Ring-Opening Reactions 6316 3.4. Wittig Reaction 6318 3.5. Bioorthogonal Reactions 6318 4. Catalyzed Reactions 6319 4.1. Metal-Catalyzed Reactions 6319 4.1.1. Pericyclic Reactions 6320 4.1.2. Arylation Reactions 6321 4.1.3. Olefin Metathesis 6323 4.1.4. Mizoroki-Heck Reaction 6324 4.1.5. Suzuki Reaction 6325 4.1.6. Sonogashira Reaction 6327 4.1.7. Transfer Hydrogenation 6327 4.1.8. Lewis Acid Catalysis 6328 4.2. Organocatalyzed Reactions 6330 4.2.1. Pericyclic Reactions 6330 4.2.2. Michael Reaction 6331 4.2.3. Mannich Reaction 6332 4.2.4. Aldol Reaction 6333 5. Conclusion 6334 6. Supporting Information Available 6335 7. References 6335

Water: Nature’s Reaction Enforcer—Comparative Effects for Organic Synthesis “In-Water” and “On-Water”

N-Heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands, introduced as analogues to phosphines, are recently getting wide attention in the design of diverse homogeneous catalytic systems.1-6 During recent years, olefin metathesis has gained a position of increasing significance.7-9 The ruthenium complex (PCy3)2(Cl2)RudCHPh 1 (Cy ) cyclohexyl) developed by Grubbs et al.10 constitutes a highly efficient metathesis catalyst11 tolerating most functional groups. In spite of the generally superb application profile of 1, its limited stability and the low activity toward substituted double bonds are major drawbacks. The initial success of olefin metathesis has spurred the intense investigation of new catalysts for this transformation. Inter alia, the recent introduction of NHCs * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: klgrela@ gmail.com. † Polish Academy of Sciences. ‡ Warsaw University. Cezary Samojłowicz was born in 1983 in Sokołów Podlaski, Poland. He obtained his MSc Eng. degree in chemical technology from the Warsaw University of Technology, studying sigmatropic rearrangements of sulfur ylides under the supervision of Tadeusz Zdrojewski. Before moving to olefin metathesis, he conducted work on supramolecular chemistry with David Reinhoudt at Twente University. Since 2007, he is conducting his PhD study under the supervision of Karol Grela.

Ruthenium-based olefin metathesis catalysts bearing N-heterocyclic carbene ligands.

Discovered in 2005, cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbenes (CAACs) are among the most nucleophilic (σ donating) and also electrophilic (π-accepting) stable carbenes known to date. These properties allow them to activate a variety of small molecules and enthalpically strong bonds, to stabilize highly reactive main-group and transition-metal diamagnetic and paramagnetic species, and to bind strongly to metal centers, which gives rise to very robust catalysts. The most important results published up to the end of 2013 are briefly summarized, while the majority of this Review focuses on findings reported within the last three years.

Cyclic (Alkyl)(amino)carbenes (CAACs): Recent Developments

Homogeneously catalysed reactions can be 'switched on' by activating latent catalysts. Usually, activation is brought about by heat or an external chemical agent. However, activation of homogeneous catalysts with a mechanical trigger has not been demonstrated. Here, we introduce a general method to activate latent catalysts by mechanically breaking bonds between a metal and one of its ligands. We have found that silver(I) complexes of polymer-functionalized N-heterocyclic carbenes, which are latent organocatalysts, catalyse a transesterification reaction when exposed to ultrasound in solution. Furthermore, ultrasonic activation of a ruthenium biscarbene complex with appended polymer chains results in catalysis of olefin metathesis reactions. In each case, the catalytic activity results from ligand dissociation, brought about by transfer of mechanical forces from the polymeric substituents to the coordination bond. Mechanochemical catalyst activation has potential applications in transduction and amplification of mechanical signals, and mechanically initiated polymerizations hold promise as a novel repair mechanism in self-healing materials.

Activating catalysts with mechanical force

The state-of-the-art in olefin metathesis is application of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-containing ruthenium alkylidenes for the formation of internal C=C bonds and of cyclic alkyl amino carbene (CAAC)-containing ruthenium benzylidenes in the production of terminal olefins. A straightforward synthesis of bis(CAAC)Ru indenylidene complexes, which are highly effective in the formation of both terminal and internal C=C bonds at loadings as low as 1 ppm, is now reported.

https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/anie.201609009

Bis(Cyclic Alkyl Amino Carbene) Ruthenium Complexes: A Versatile, Highly Efficient Tool for Olefin Metathesis

A dormant ruthenium catalyst bearing a chelating carboxylate ligand: in situ activation and application in metathesis reactions.

The active species generated from ruthenium complexes bearing N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands exhibit limited stability under certain conditions (high dilution, high temperature) and in the presence of nitrile functionality. As a consequence, industrial implementation of metathesis for the production of important materials such as macrocyclic musks and polyamide 11 is uneconomical. Over the past decade, hundreds of ruthenium complexes bearing NHC ligands have been obtained. However, to this date, they have brought rather limited improvements in efficiency. In this paper, we report on cyclic alkyl amino carbene (CAAC) ruthenium complexes that promote highly challenging macrocyclization and cross metathesis (CM) with acrylonitrile reactions at loadings as low as 10–20 ppm.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acscatal.7b00597

Cyclic Alkyl Amino Ruthenium Complexes—Efficient Catalysts for Macrocyclization and Acrylonitrile Cross Metathesis

Access to leading olefin metathesis catalysts, including the Grubbs, Hoveyda, and Grela catalysts, ultimately rests on the nonscaleable transfer of a benzylidene ligand from an unstable, impure ary...

Rafał Gawin

Papers

Bis(Cyclic Alkyl Amino Carbene) Ruthenium Complexes: A Versatile, Highly Efficient Tool for Olefin Metathesis

A dormant ruthenium catalyst bearing a chelating carboxylate ligand: in situ activation and application in metathesis reactions.

Cyclic Alkyl Amino Ruthenium Complexes—Efficient Catalysts for Macrocyclization and Acrylonitrile Cross Metathesis

Integrating Activity with Accessibility in Olefin Metathesis: An Unprecedentedly Reactive Ruthenium-Indenylidene Catalyst.

Ruthenium catalysts bearing chelating carboxylate ligands: application to metathesis reactions in water