Progress in metathesis chemistry

In contrast to the production of simple bulk chemicals and polymers, which started shortly after the discovery of the “olefin scrambling” reaction, it was not until much later that this transformation was “rediscovered” by the academic world. In the last decade of the 20^th century, the so-called olefin metathesis reaction gained real significance in advanced organic synthesis. The development of well-defined catalysts and an understanding of the reaction mechanism prompted an extraordinary scientific turnaround, revolutionizing retro-synthetic planning in total synthesis groups and in medicinal chemistry laboratories around the world. The importance of “the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis” has been fully recognized by the award of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2005.

Organic chemists are now provided with molybdenum and ruthenium complexes that present good application profiles for a range of metathesis reactions. Currently, olefin metathesis is one of the most intensively studied transformations in synthetic organic chemistry, as witnessed by the number of published syntheses where metathesis is the key step. The importance of these developments is now widely appreciated and more and more commercial applications will surely follow.