Cationic Silica-Supported N-Heterocyclic Carbene Tungsten Oxo Alkylidene Sites: Highly Active and Stable Catalysts for Olefin Metathesis.

Designing supported alkene metathesis catalysts with high activity and stability is still a challenge, despite significant advances in the last years. Described herein is the combination of strong σ-donating N-heterocyclic carbene ligands with weak σ-donating surface silanolates and cationic tungsten sites leading to highly active and stable alkene metathesis catalysts. These well-defined silica-supported catalysts, [(≡SiO)W(=O)(=CHCMe2 Ph)(IMes)(OTf)] and [(≡SiO)W(=O)(=CHCMe2 Ph)(IMes)(+) ][B(Ar(F) )4 (-) ] [IMes=1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)-imidazol-2-ylidene, B(Ar(F) )4 =B(3,5-(CF3 )2 C6 H3 )4 ] catalyze alkene metathesis, and the cationic species display unprecedented activity for a broad range of substrates, especially for terminal olefins with turnover numbers above 1.2 million for propene.