Preference of Ruthenium-Based Metathesis Catalysts toward Z- and E‑Alkenes as a Guide for Selective Reactions to Alkene Stereoisomers

As a guide for selective reactions toward either Z- or E-alkene in a metathesis reaction, the relative preference of metathesis Ru catalysts for each stereoisomer was determined by a method using time-dependent fluorescence quenching. We found that Ru-1 prefers the Z-isomer over the E-isomer, whereas Ru-2 prefers the E-isomer over the Z-isomer. The Z/E-alkene preference of the catalysts precisely predicted the Z/E isomeric selectivity in the metathesis reactions of diene substrates possessing combinations of Z/E-alkenes. For the diene substrates, the rate order of the reactions using Ru-1 was Z,Z-1,6-diene > Z,E-1,6-diene > E,E-1,6-diene, while the completely opposite order of E,E-1,6-diene > Z,E-1,6-diene > Z,Z-1,6-diene was exhibited in the case of Ru-2.