Comments on: Metathesis Catalyst Removal Techniques

By: Simon Byrne

Simon Byrne — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 20:45:43 +0000

I tried the H2O2 method but it didn’t work for me. I’m guessing it oxidised the ruthenium, but also ruined my product.

The reaction is pretty vigorous too.

By: bdfil08

bdfil08 — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:01:08 +0000

Hi all,
I’m wondering if anyone, except the authors of course, as already had a go at the H2O2 method cited upper (Knghts et al., Tet Lett 2010, 51, 638-640).
As said, seems really great on the paper.
What’s the result? Good?
Anyway, as said also: worth a try so I’ll post my soon-to-be attempt
Thanks a lot

By: Cp2

Cp2 — Tue, 04 May 2010 05:27:01 +0000

Thx for your answer, but I intended to recover the ruthenium as a metal or as RuCl3 (like in inorganic chemistry lab by dissolution in nitric acid and precipitation as ????…..).
Maybe there are some people out there how have dealt with “ruthenium waste” and created something useful out of it.

By: Diana

Diana — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 01:06:19 +0000

I assume you want to recover the catalyst and not the ruthenium metal? I doubt that there is much active catalyst left after the reaction and the distillation, most of it is decomposed. But you can try to run a TLC and if there is a spot for the catalyst try to run a column. Good luck!

By: Cp2

Cp2 — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 08:12:40 +0000

Hi there,
i am doing a metathesis rct. with 1st gen. grubbs where the workup is just distilling your product of the reaction mixture leaving you a residue containing a lot of ruthenium (around 15g!! catalyst seperated in three batches). Is there any convienient procedure to recover the ruthenium?
Thx for help

By: nickel

nickel — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:29:44 +0000

alchemist must have bee talking about the recent David Knight TL paper (Article in Press published Nov. 26, doi: 10.1016/j.tetlet.2009.11.092). They use a simple wash with 15% hydrogen peroxide to kill the catalyst. Worried about over oxidation? The RuO2 that is formed in the process reacts with H2O2 to give H2O and O2, destroying excess peroxide in the process. There are bound to be some functional group incompatibilities, but if it’s as cheap, easy, and effective as it seems, it’s definitely worth a try…

By: alchemist

alchemist — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:43:20 +0000

Wait for an soon to be published Tet. Lett, feature article using hydrogen peroxide! Cheap as chips!

By: nickel

nickel — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:20:05 +0000

This has the potential to be a convenient and inexpensive process. Are there other methods out there?

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:59:08 +0000

Err, I guess it would help if I gave the reference. Sorry about that!

Macdonald, Langmuir, 2008, 24 (14), pp 7169–7177. DOI: 10.1021/la8006734

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:04:11 +0000

Our group has developed a method using 3-mercaptopropionic capped Iron/iron oxide nanoparticles, which may have advantages using magnetic removal.