An Enantiomerically Pure Adamantylimido Molybdenum Alkylidene Complex. An Effective New Catalyst for Enantioselective Olefin Metathesis

An enantiomerically pure Mo-based complex that bears an alkylimido ligand is prepared and
characterized through NMR spectroscopy and X-ray analysis. Mo complex 4 is the only reported chiral
alkylimido catalyst; all previous chiral complexes are arylimido systems. These studies show that the chiral
Mo catalyst exists exclusively as the syn isomer and that it offers unique reactivity and selectivity profiles
in asymmetric olefin metathesis.