Olefin metathesis for the formation internal or terminal carbon-carbon double bonds is broadly used in the pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, fine chemicals and polymers. Ruthenium complexes with unsymmetrically substituted <i>N</i>-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands have been identified as promising catalyst for selective metathesis. Stabilization of methylidene intermediates has been suggested as a key factor to improve catalytic activities. It is known that additional electron donating ligands can help stabilizing such methylidene intermediates. Imidazo[1,5-a]pyridine-3-ylidene (ImPy), first reported in 2005, is a structurally unsymmetric NHC ligand candidate with different electronic properties. Herein, we report the synthesis and characterization of novel ruthenium catalysts with ImPy ligands (ImPy-Ru). The influences of various backbone and ligand nitrogen atom substituents on the activity and selectivity of olefin metathesis as well as the stability of ruthenium catalyst precursors were studied. Study results on structure-activity relationship of the ImPy-Ru catalysts will be discussed in the poster presentation.

Imidazo[1,5-a]pyridin-3-ylidene ruthenium catalysts for olefin metathesis

256th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.