Non‐metathesis reactions of ruthenium carbene catalysts and their application to the synthesis of nitrogen‐containing heterocycles

Non‐metathesis reactions of ruthenium carbene catalysts, such as olefin isomerization, hydrogenation, radical reaction, activation of silane, cyclopropanation, epimerization cocyclopropane, [3 + 2] cycloaddition, and cycloisomerization, are summarized. The utility of these reactions was demonstrated by the synthesis of indole using olefin isomerization and subsequent ring‐closing metathesis, the synthesis of indoline using cycloisomerization, and the synthesis of the putative structure of fistulosin using cycloisomerization as a key step.