Title:Microwave-assisted Olefin Metathesis as Pivotal Step in the Synthesis of Bioactive Compounds
Volume: 24
Issue: 41
Author(s): Koffi Senam Etse, Alice Ngendera, Nelly Tshibalonza Ntumba, Albert Demonceau*, Lionel Delaude, Ileana Dragutan and Valerian Dragutan
Affiliation:
- Laboratory of Macromolecular Chemistry and Organic Catalysis, Department of Chemistry, University of Liège, Sart-Tilman (B.6a), B-4000 Liege,Belgium
Keywords:
Cross-metathesis, microwaves, natural products, olefin metathesis, ring-closing metathesis, ruthenium
catalysts.
Abstract: Over the last two decades, olefin metathesis has emerged as a new avenue in the
design of new routes for the synthesis of natural products and active pharmaceutical ingredients.
In many cases, syntheses based on olefin metathesis strategies provide significant routes
in terms of increasing the overall yields, improving the synthesis scope, and decreasing the
number of steps. On the other hand, over the last decade, microwave-assisted chemistry has
experienced an incredible development, which rapidly opened new areas in organic synthesis
and in homogeneous catalysis. In this review article, we highlight applications of microwaveheated
olefin metathesis reactions as pivotal steps in the total synthesis of biologically active
compounds. By drawing selected examples from the recent literature, we aim to illustrate the
great synthetic power and variety of metathesis reactions, as well as the beneficial effects of
microwave irradiation over conventional heating sources. The majority of the selected applications
of microwave-assisted olefin metathesis cover the synthesis of medium-ring cycles,
macrocycles, and peptidomimetics by means of ring-closing metathesis (RCM) and crossmetathesis
(CM) routes.
