Hydrogen-Bonding Effects in Ruthenium-Catalyzed Olefin Metathesis

Olefin metathesis is among the most popular synthetic methods over the past two decades. Owing to the good functional group tolerance of ruthenium catalysts, hydrogen bonding has emerged as a powerful controlling element for olefin metathesis recently. Recent studies demonstrated that the hydrogen bonding between ruthenium catalyst and certain types of substrates or additives could significantly improve the rate, chemoselectivity and stereoselectivity of olefin metathesis, while the self-assembly of substrates could be driven by intramolecular or intermolecular hydrogen bonding and result in highly selective reactions. In this review, the development and application of hydrogen bonding-promoted ruthenium-catalyzed olefin metathesis reactions are summarized, and the mechanism insights into these systems are highlighted.