Metathesis of Rubber Fatty Acid Methyl Esters: A Green Approach for Generating Industrial Platform Chemicals

With the increase in environmental concern the demand for renewable sources and modern, greener synthetic routes is growing day by day. In this context, the present study is focused on the use olefin metathesis for the preparation of industrial platform chemicals. Rubber fatty acid methyl esters (6.8 mM), a non- edible, tree-bore oil?based esters were subjected to metathesis employing Grubb’s second generation catalyst (0.3m.M) at 45 ºC for 36 h. The organic intermediates generated by olefin metathesis as analysed by GC and GC-MS showed hydrocarbon (9-octadecene (19%) and 6-pentadecene (5%)) as major. A macrocyclic hydrocarbon cyclodecacyclododecene (19%) and cyclopropaneoctanoic acid methyl ester (1.6%) were observed for the first time which can be used as potential synthetic organic intermediates.