Levin, E.; Mavila, S.; Eivgi, O.; Tzur, E.; Lemcoff, N.G. “Regioselective Chromatic Orthogonality with Light-Activated Metathesis Catalysts” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, Advance Article. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201500740 The control of molecular bond formation is fundamental to synthetic chemists. Recently, a creative synthetic route for selective ring formation by utilizing different wavelengths to orthogonally control a reaction […]

“In tandem or alone: a remarkably selective transfer hydrogenation of alkenes catalyzed by ruthenium olefin metathesis catalysts” G. K. Zieli?ski, C. Samoj?owicz, T. Wdowik and K. Grela, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2015, 13, 2684 DOI: 10.1039/C4OB02480J Chemists are always searching for ways to rapidly construct complex molecules from relatively simple starting materials and avoid tedious purification […]

Neal, J. A.; Mozhdehi, D.; Guan, Z. “Enhancing Mechanical Performance of a Covalent Self-Healing Material by Sacrificial Noncovalent Bonds” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 4846-4850. Self-healing materials have been an objective of extensive research for obvious reasons. Most polymers, regardless of their application, are exposed to external stress that may cause them to undergo […]

Marx, V. M.; Sullivan, A. H.; Melaimi, M.; Virgil; S. C.; Keitz, B. K.; Weinberger, D. S.; Bertrand, G. and Grubbs, R. H. “Cyclic Alkyl Amino Carbene (CAAC) Ruthenium Complexes as Remarkably Active Catalysts for Ethenolysis” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 1919-23 Ethenolysis of seed oils has significant potential as a clean and sustainable […]

Bates, J. M.; Lummiss, J. A. M.; C.; Bailey; G. A., and Fogg, D. E. “Operation of the Boomerang Mechanism in Olefin Metathesis Reactions Promoted by the Second-Generation Hoveyda Catalyst” ACS Catal., 2014, 4 (7), 2387-94. No consensus has been reached about the validity of the release-return or Boomerang mechanism involved in the metathesis reactions […]

Torker, S.; Khan, R.K.M.; Hoveyda, A.M. “The Influence of Anionic Ligands on Stereoisomerism of Ru Carbenes and Their Importance to Efficiency and Selectivity of Catalytic Olefin Metathesis Reactions” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 3439-3455. For the past 15 years ruthenium catalysts have been a workhorse for olefin metathesis. Chemists have been able to tune […]

Denard, C. A.; Huang; H.; Bartlett, M. J., Lu, L.; Tan, Y.; Zhao, H.; and Hartwig, J. F. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 465. Recently, the Hartwig group reported a tandem reaction in which a metalloenzyme and a metathesis catalyst worked cooperatively to yield products which cannot be generated in comparable yield by sequential […]

Keitz, B.K.; Fedorov, A.; Grubbs, R.H. “Cis-Selective Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization with Ruthenium Catalysts” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 2040-2043. Rosebrugh, L.E.; Marx, V.M.; Keitz, B.K.; Grubbs, R.H. “Synthesis of Highly Cis, Syndiotactic Polymers via Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization Using Ruthenium Metathesis Catalysts” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 10032-10035. Controlling the stereochemistry of ring opening […]

Since Daryl Allen wrote his post in 2011 on the development of the first cis-selective ruthenium catalysts with chelating NHC ligands, a lot of activity and exciting new developments occurred in the area which warrants an update. After the pivalate complex 1 was published1, it was found that the nitrate derivative 2 is more stable and […]

July 18, 2013 was a very exciting day for the olefin metathesis community. The first press release from Elevance Renewable Sciences and Wilmar International Limited reported that their joint venture, a $40 million olefin metathesis-based bio-refinery located in Gresik, Indonesia was operational, leading to the first shipments of commercial products to customers.1 The Gresik facility […]

Wolf, S. and Plenio, H. “On the Ethenolysis of End-of-Life Tire Granules” Green Chemistry 2013, 15, 315-319. DOI: 10.1039/c2g36417d If one accepts the old adage “The more things change, the more they stay the same…” is true, does it then follow that “the more things stay the same, the more they (can) change…” Any truthful response […]