Highlights of the Recent U.S. Patent Literature: Focus on Metathesis

Metathesis catalysts and applications of the metathesis reaction have been an area of active patenting over the past 25 years. Industrial use of metathesis is well-established in the polymer and commodity chemical industries but only recently have improvements in catalyst activity, robustness, and functional group tolerability allowed expansion to the fine chemical and pharmaceutical industry. This article reviews metathesis patents and patent applications published within the past year focused on newly patented catalyst structures, use of metathesis for conversion of seed oils to high value products, and catalysts that are Z-selective in cross metathesis reactions. © 2016 American Chemical Society.