Tropylium-promoted carbonyl-olefin metathesis reactions.

The carbonyl-olefin metathesis (COM) reaction is a highly valuable chemical transformation in a broad range of applications. However, its scope is much less explored compared to analogous olefin-olefin metathesis reactions. Herein we demonstrate the use of tropylium ion as a new effective organic Lewis acid catalyst for both intramolecular and intermolecular COM and new ring-opening metathesis reactions. This represents a significant improvement in substrate scope from recently reported developments in this field.