Ruthenium nitronate complexes as tunable catalysts for olefin metathesis and other transformations.

Novel ruthenium(II) complexes were obtained as a result of a stoichiometric reaction of Grubbs' benzylidene second generation catalysts with 3-nitropropene. These stable complexes, formally ruthenaisoxazole N-oxide derivatives, display activity in both metathesis and non-metathetic processes such as cycloisomerisation, isomerisation and transfer hydrogenation.