Metathesis: from polymerization to the synthesis of complex molecules

Olefin metathesis is a reaction that was first observed in the 1950s by a DuPont petrochemist, H.S. Eleuterio . This chemist had observed the transformation of a cyclic olefin into an unsaturated polymer in the presence of a metal catalyst, but had not realized the importance of this reaction. By contrast, in 1964, R.L. Banks and G.C. Bailey of Phillips Petroleum saw the impact that olefin metathesis could have, as they had been able to transform propylene into ethylene and butene by heating, thanks to the presence of a molybdenum catalyst . In the same year, G. Natta, who belonged to the Milan Industrial Research Institute, had found that by leaving a cyclic olefin in the presence of metals such as tungsten or molybdenum, he could obtain a high-mass unsaturated polymer with double bonds and, in 1967, N. Calderon, a chemist at Good Year Tire, showed that these polymerizations and/or transformations of olefins into other olefins were due to a phenomenon he called "metathesis" . In Greek, "meta" means change and "thesis" means position. It has to be said that, in the 1960s, the mechanism of metathesis was much debated and, at that time, far from elucidated. It wasn't until 1971, inspired by the work of Natta, Banks, Bailey and Fischer, who had identified a metal-carbon, that Y. Chauvin and J.L. Hérisson proposed a mechanism involving a metal-carbon that could act as a catalyst in the metathesis reaction between two alkenes. Avant-garde, Y. Chauvin and J.L....