Olefin metathesis in room temperature ionic liquids using imidazolium-tagged ruthenium complexes

New recyclable imidazolium-tagged ruthenium catalysts have been developed to perform olefin metathesis in room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs). High level of recyclability combined with a high reactivity were obtained in the ring-closing metathesis (RCM) of a variety of di- or tri-substituted and/or oxygen-containing dienes. Extremely low residual ruthenium levels were detected in the RCM products (average of 7.3 ppm per run). Several examples of olefin cross-metathesis (CM) have been also studied.