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Updated: May 3, 2026

Imine Metathesis by Silica-Supported Catalysts Using the Methodology of Surface Organometallic Chemistry
Published on: October 18, 2019
Does the rate of competing isomerisation during alkene metathesis depend on pre-catalyst initiation rate?
David J Nelson1, Jonathan M Percy
1WestCHEM/Department of Pure & Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde, 295 Cathedral Street, Glasgow, G1 1XL, UK. david.nelson@strath.ac.uk jonathan.percy@strath.ac.uk.
Abstract:
Experimental studies of the ring-closing metathesis reaction of 1,8-nonadiene and the ROMP reaction of cycloheptene show that the rate of isomerisation is not correlated to the initiation rate of the pre-catalyst, and that the absence of phosphine leads to a greatly increased rate of isomerisation. A range of pre-catalysts and solvents were probed and it is proposed that the isomerisation is mediated by a ruthenium hydride complex; our results are consistent with the rate-determining formation of such a species, which might be trapped in situ by tricyclohexylphosphane.
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