Effective homo-metathesis of a series of dichloro-substituted vinylsilanes H2C = C(H)SiCl2R (where R = Me, OSiMe3, C6H5, C6H4-Me-4, C6H4-CF3-4) in the presence of second generation Grubbs catalyst [Cl-2(PCy3)(IMesH(2))Ru(=CHPh)] (I) and Hoveyda-Grubbs catalyst (II) leads to selective formation of E-1,2-bis(silyl)ethenes and ethene. On the basis of the results of experiments with deuterium-labelled reagents, a metallacarbene mechanism has been suggested for these reactions. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.