Olefin metathesis is a powerful and versatile method in synthetic organic and polymer chemistry. During olefin metathesis reactions the carbon atoms of two C=C double bonds are reorganized to new double-bond-containing molecules on controlled manner. Nevertheless these reactions are very selective and they require mild reaction conditions as well as low catalyst loadings. The atom economy of these synthetic procedures is often 100% indicating that all the starting materials are incorporated into products.<br/>Nature is abundant in conjugated bond containing bio-based materials such as conjugated polyunsaturated fatty acids, terpenes and chromophores. Conjugated olefins can also be found in vast amount in petrochemical by-products having only nominal fuel value. These chemicals, due to their special conjugated electron systems, often render an underutilized feedstock. It is especially true for their conversion by metathesis reactions, as the available metathesis catalyst systems are not optimized to conjugated monomers. The applicability of the conjugated olefin metathesis reactions will be demonstrated on bio-based raw materials and petrochemical side products: (1) conversion of tung oil (China wood oil) feedstock containing conjugated α-elaeostearic acid (&gt;80%) and (2) the conversion of cyclopentadiene petrochemical by-product to value added materials.<br/>The conversion of renewable resources or utilization of petrochemical wastes by environmental benign catalytic olefin metathesis reactions provides a perfect combination to the development of sustainable and forward-looking chemical processes.

Metathesis of conjugated polyunsaturated materials

256th National Meeting (2018)

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