Parameters Governing Ruthenium Sawhorse-Based Decarboxylation of Oleic Acid

Ruthenium-catalyzed decarboxylation of 9-cis-octadecenoic is a path to produce biobased olefins. Here, a mechanistic study of this reaction was undertaken utilizing a closed reaction system and a pressure reactor. The proposed mechanism of an isomerization followed by a decarboxylation reaction was consistent with a mathematical kinetic model. That same model was able to accurately predict CO 2 evolution. Additionally, computational chemistry was used to determine that the barrier of the oleic acid decarboxylation reaction is 249 kJ mol –1 . Using the new information, the efficacy of the decarboxylation reaction was improved to an overall catalytic efficiency of 850 total turnovers.