Biofuel by isomerizing metathesis of rapeseed oil esters with (bio)ethylene for use in contemporary diesel engines.

Rapeseed oil methyl ester (RME) and (bio)ethylene are converted into biofuel with an evenly rising boiling point curve, which fulfills the strict boiling specifications prescribed by the fuel standard EN 590 for modern (petro)diesel engines. Catalyzed by a Pd/Ru system, RME undergoes isomerizing metathesis in a stream of ethylene gas, leading to a defined olefin, monoester, and diester blend. This innovative refining concept requires negligible energy input (60°C) and no solvents and does not produce waste. It demonstrates that the pressing challenge of increasing the fraction of renewables in engine fuel may be addressed purely chemically rather than by motor engineering.

Atom-economic catalytic amide synthesis from amines and carboxylic acids activated in situ with acetylenes.

Amide bond-forming reactions are of tremendous significance in synthetic chemistry. Methodological research has, in the past, focused on efficiency and selectivity, and these have reached impressive levels. However, the unacceptable amounts of waste produced have led the ACS GCI Roundtable to label 'amide bond formation avoiding poor atom economy' as the most pressing target for sustainable synthetic method development. In response to this acute demand, we herein disclose an efficient one-pot amide coupling protocol that is based on simple alkynes as coupling reagents: in the presence of a dichloro[(2,6,10-dodecatriene)-1,12-diyl]ruthenium catalyst, carboxylate salts of primary or secondary amines react with acetylene or ethoxyacetylene to vinyl ester intermediates, which undergo aminolysis to give the corresponding amides along only with volatile acetaldehyde or ethyl acetate, respectively. The new amide synthesis is broadly applicable to the synthesis of structurally diverse amides, including dipeptides.

Isomerizing ethenolysis as an efficient strategy for styrene synthesis.

A shrinking chain: A bimetallic system consisting of [{Pd(µ-Br)(tBu3P)}2] and a ruthenium metathesis catalyst has been found to efficiently promote the cross-metathesis between substituted alkenes and ethylene, while continuously migrating the double bond along the alkenyl chain (see scheme). When alkenylarenes, such as the natural products eugenol, safrol, or estragol, were treated with this catalyst under an ethylene atmosphere, they were cleanly converted into the corresponding styrenes and propylene gas.