A well-defined silica-supported tungsten oxo alkylidene is a highly active alkene metathesis catalyst.

Grafting (ArO)2W(═O)(═CHtBu) (ArO = 2,6-mesitylphenoxide) on partially dehydroxylated silica forms mostly [(≡SiO)W(═O)(═CHtBu)(OAr)] along with minor amounts of [(≡SiO)W(═O)(CH2tBu)(OAr)2] (20%), both fully characterized by elemental analysis and IR and NMR spectroscopies. The well-defined oxo alkylidene surface complex [(≡SiO)W(═O)(═CHtBu)OAr] is among the most active heterogeneous metathesis catalysts reported to date in the self-metathesis of cis-4-nonene and ethyl oleate, in sharp contrast to the classical heterogeneous catalysts based on WO3/SiO2.