Olefin Metathesis Catalyst Technology – How it Works

Materia’s metathesis catalyst technology represents the most innovative and significant method by which olefin-containing raw materials can be redistributed to yield a net exchange of the substituents. This powerful methodology is facilitated by a reaction between a selected catalyst (blue) and an olefin substrate (red). The reaction proceeds via the reversible formation of a 4-membered metallacycle intermediate .

The cyclo-reversion of the metallacycle can reform the starting materials, or productive cleavage can form a new carbon-carbon double bond and a new metal-carbene complex that is capable of propagating through the reaction pathway. The added value of Materia’s catalyst technology stems from the ability to facilitate numerous olefin metathesis transformations including:

Ring Closing Metathesis (RCM)

Cross Metathesis (CM)

Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization (ROMP)

For additional information on olefin metathesis see:

http://www.allthingsmetathesis.org

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2005/chemadv05.pdf