Quantitative catalyst-substrate association relationships between metathesis molybdenum or ruthenium carbene complexes and their substrates.

Herein we present the long-sought quantitative catalyst-substrate association relationships based on experimentally measured quantitative association preferences of diverse metathesis Mo and Ru catalysts (Mo-1, Schrock Mo; Mo-2, Schrock-Hoveyda Mo; Ru-1, Grubbs first generation Ru; Ru-2, Grubbs second generation Ru; Ru-3:, Grubbs-Hoveyda first generation Ru; and Ru-4, Grubbs-Hoveyda second generation Ru) to their substrates (alkenes, alkynes and allenes), determined directly by a general method based on FRET principle. The determined substrate preferences are proved to be dependent on the molecular identity of the catalyst, exhibiting the preference order of alkyne > alkene > allene for Mo-1 and Mo-2, allene > alkene > alkyne for Ru-1 and Ru-3, and alkyne > allene > alkene for Ru-2 and Ru-4. The results enable us to probe metathesis mechanisms by answering issues in metathesis reactions including the controversial reaction initiation in enyne or allenyne metathesis.