Acceleration of alkyne metathesis in multicomponent catalytic systems by use of alternative Mo(0) sources under optimised conditions

Abstract

Alkyne metathesis in multicomponent catalytic systems, although subject to changes, is still dominated by molybdenum hexacarbonyl as a source of Mo(0). Our findings show that this coordination compound is relatively inert under metathesis conditions, which results in noticeably long induction of catalytic activity, and the kinetics of this transformation can greatly benefit from switching to more labile Mo(0) complexes. Several easily obtainable ones were tested and [Mo(CO)3(py)3] has been chosen as the one exhibiting the most desired features, i.e. nearly instant catalytic activity and relative stability in the air.