Reactivation of a Ruthenium-Based Olefin Metathesis Catalyst

1(st) Generation Hoveyda-Grubbs olefin metathesis catalyst was purposely decomposed in the presence of ethylene yielding inorganic species that are inactive in the ring-closing metathesis (RCM) of benchmark substrate diethyldiallyl malonate (DEDAM). The decomposed catalyst was treated with 1-(3,5-diisopropoxyphenyl)-1-phenylprop-2-yn-1-ol (3) to generate an olefin metathesis active ruthenium indenylidene-ether complex in 43 % yield. This complex was also prepared independently by reacting RuCl(2)(p-cymene)(PCy(3)) with organic precursor 3. The activity of the isolated reactivated catalyst in the RCM of DEDAM is similar to that of the independently prepared complex.