New Insights into the Mechanism of Ruthenium-Catalyzed Olefin Metathesis Reactions

Over the past two decades, olefin metathesis has emerged as a mild and efficient method for the formation of carbon−carbon double bonds. In particular, (PCy_3)_2(Cl)_2RuCHPh (1)^2 has found extensive use in organic and polymer chemistry due to its high reactivity with olefins in the presence of a diverse array of functional groups. Recently, a new family of ruthenium-based olefin metathesis catalysts have been prepared by the substitution of a single PCy_3 ligand of 1 with an N-heterocyclic carbene. These new alkylidenes, particularly [Figure 1], exhibit dramatically increased activity over the parent system in ring-opening metathesis polymerization, ring-closing metathesis,4a and cross metathesis reactions. The mechanism of olefin metathesis reactions catalyzed by 1 has received intense investigation in our group and others and early studies established that phosphine dissociation is a crucial step along the reaction coordinate. As such, it has been suggested that the high activity of 2 and its analogues is due to their increased ability to promote this critical phosphine dissociation step. We report herein a detailed mechanistic study of phosphine exchange and initiation kinetics in alkylidenes 1 and 2. This study provides new and surprising evidence concerning the origin of the large activity differences between these two catalysts.