Well-Defined Silica-Supported Tungsten(IV)-Oxo Complex: Olefin Metathesis Activity, Initiation, and Role of Brønsted Acid Sites.

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Despite the importance of the heterogeneous tungsten-oxo-based olefin metathesis catalyst (WO3/SiO2) in industry, understanding of its initiation mechanism is still very limited. It has been proposed that reduced W(IV)-oxo surface species act as precatalysts. In order to understand the reactivity and initiation mechanism of surface W(IV)-oxo species, we synthesized a well-defined silica-supported W(IV)-oxo species, (≡SiO)WO(OtBuF6)(py)3 (F6@SiO2-700; OtBuF6 = OC(CH3)(CF3)2; py = pyridine), via surface organometallic chemistry (SOMC). F6@SiO2-700 was shown to be highly active in olefin metathesis upon removal of pyridine ligands through the addition of tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane (B(C6F5)3) or thermal treatment under high vacuum. The metathesis activity toward olefins with and without allylic C-H groups, namely β-methylstyrene and styrene, respectively, was investigated. In the case of styrene, we demonstrated the role of surface OH groups in initiating metathesis activity. We proposed that the presence of strong Brønsted acidic OH sites, which likely arises from the presence of adjacent W sites in the catalyst as revealed by 15N-labeled pyridine adsorption, can assist styrene metathesis. In contrast, initiation of olefins with allylic C-H groups (e.g., β-methylstyrene) is independent of the surface OH density and likely involves an allylic C-H activation mechanism, like the molecular W(IV)-oxo species. This study indicates that initiation mechanisms depend on the olefinic substrates and reveals the synergistic effect of Brønsted acidic surface sites and reduced W(IV) sites in the initiation of olefin metathesis.