Combinatorial screening of an in situ generated library of tungsten oxyhalide and imido complexes for olefin...

A series of substituted tungsten(VI) halides with general formula WECl4 (E = O or -NR (imido)) were screened via a high throughput study to identify potential new olefin metathesis catalysts. The tungsten species were treated with a series of aluminum alkyl activators and modifier ligands to generate active catalyst species in situ. Ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of cyclooctene was used as a primary screen to identify potential metathesis catalysts and active catalysts were subjected to a secondary screen to evaluate tolerance toward polar functional groups. Several combinations from the high throughput campaign yielded active metathesis catalysts for the ROMP of cyclooctene. However, none of the catalysts examined in this study exhibited any evidence of significant polar functional group tolerance as determined by the results of the secondary cyclooctene/butyl acetate screen.