Synthesis and Catalytic Properties of Sulfur-Chelated Ruthenium Benzylidenes Bearing a Cyclic (Alkyl)(amino)carbene Ligand

Sulfur-chelated ruthenium olefin metathesis precatalysts that possess cyclic (alkyl)­(amino)­carbenes (CAAC) can benefit from the synergetic effect of both ligands. Changing the steric bulk of the CAAC ligand by using different substitution patterns was shown to affect the geometry of the complexes produced and determined whether the complexes could be catalytically dormant. The cis-dichloro latent catalysts could be activated both by heat or light, even in the visible region, for representative acyclic diene metathesis and ring-opening metathesis polymerization reactions, olefin cross-metathesis, and ring-closing metathesis without isomerization byproducts. Thus, these complexes were shown to combine the uniqueness of CAAC-containing Ru olefin metathesis catalysts with the advantage of the thermal and photolatency imposed by sulfur chelation of the benzylidene.