Electrochemically Controlled Ruthenium-Catalyzed Olefin -Metathesis

The development of a system to electrochemically control ruthenium-catalyzed olefin metathesis is reported. Catalyzed by a commercially-available bis-NHC Ru complex, this system displays a broad substrate scope with very short reaction times, as well as excellent levels of temporal control over metathesis with only electricity as a stimulus.