Advanced one-step methods for the preparation of tailored heterogeneous catalysts – the case of oxide-based olefin metathesis catalysts (Invited Lecture)

Olefin metathesis is a crucial reaction catalyzed by metal carbenes. To obtain a highly active heterogeneous metathesis catalyst, one can (i) design highly active organometallic complexes and graft them onto an appropriate carrier or (ii) use the most classical preparation routes to supported oxide catalyst (impregnation/calcination) in which a small proportion of the metal oxide will turn into active carbenes when contacted with the olefin. In the petrochemical industry, the second strategy – which yields cheap and robust catalysts – is preferred even though the activity is modest. In this communication we show that there is a way through. After studying the factors that dictate the genesis of active metathesis sites in supported MoO3-catalysts (thus identifying the limitations of these formulations), we explore three innovative routes to prepare more active catalysts