Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.131, No.46, 16630-16630, 2009
Highly Z-Selective Metathesis Homocoupling of Terminal Olefins
Mo and W MonoAryloxide-Pyrrolide (MAP) otefin metathesis catalysts can couple terminal olefins to give as high as >98% Z-products in moderate to high yields with as little as 0.2% catalyst. Results are reported for 1-hexene, 1-octene, allylbenzene, allyltrimethylsilane, methyl-10-undecenoate, methyl-9-decenoate, allylB(pinacolate), allyloBenzyl, allylNHTosyl, and allylNHPh. It is proposed that high Z-selectivity is achieved because a large aryloxide only allows metallacyclobutanes to form that contain adjacent cis substituents and because isomerization of Z-product to E-product can be stow in that same steric environment.