Jojoba oil olefin metathesis: a valuable source for bio-renewable materials

Jojoba oil is a diene composed of two monounsaturated hydrocarbon chains linked by an ester moiety. Ruthenium catalysed cross-metathesis (CM) reactions of the oil produced ADMET oligomers and hydrocarbon by-products under various conditions. Both the polyester oligomers and the hydrocarbon distillates were analysed by several analytical techniques. The oligomers were also hydrolysed under basic conditions to assess their potential degradability. In addition, oligomerisation of the starting material by a thiol-ene 'click' reaction was also probed. A high atom economy is expected for this catalytic process given that all products obtained may be used either as sources for bio-fuel (hydrocarbons), or as potential renewable and degradable materials (polyester chains).