Practical Ruthenium Catalysts for the Synthesis of Cyclic Olefin Oligomers, Polymers, and their Hydrogenated Derivatives

Herein, we demonstrate the efficient ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of cyclic dienes and olefins catalyzed by several ruthenium-arene complexes as well as commercially available Grubbs-type catalysts. The molecular mass and polydispersity of the oligomers was effectively controlled with the aid of different chain-transfer agents. Furthermore, a highly practical and scalable sequential one-pot synthesis method was successfully established to obtain hydrogenated ROMP oligomers with a homogenous hydrogenation catalyst.