Ring closing metathesis reaction of citronellene by utilizing simple mesoporous SBA-15-loaded ruthenium alkylidene supercatalyst

The immobilization of Hoveyda–Grubbs form of metathesis catalyst (Z.C.) exhibited simple non-covalent interactions with the mesoporous SBA-15. It was discovered that the Z.C. catalyst worked well to speed up the citronellene ring closing metathesis reaction. Using cyclohexane as a solvent, the citronellene ring closing metathesis reaction was performed at various temperatures. A very low (almost negligible) catalyst leaching was observed. A high turnover number (TON) was obtained by using a very small amount of catalyst. The activation energy was calculated in the case of ring closing metathesis reaction of citronellene at different temperatures. By using the high concentration of citronellene, a high TON was obtained (4674), which indicates that active catalytic centers were not demolished by a large concentration of citronellene molecule. Turnover number (264) was produced when the Ru/substrate molar ratio 1:300 used in the reaction.