Metathesis of renewable unsaturated fatty acid esters catalysed by a phoban-indenylidene ruthenium catalyst

The phoban-indenylidene complex is a robust catalyst for self-metathesis and ethenolysis reactions of methyl oleate. The phobanindenylidene catalyst was characterized by X-ray analysis, NMR and microanalysis and was used in various self-metathesis and ethenolysis of methyl oleate, giving rise to significantly higher end of run conversions compared to Grubbs 1st generation catalyst. These complexes are more stable and active than commercial Grubbs 1st generation catalyst, can be accessed from simple precursors and should give rise to more economical metathesis processes. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.