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A combination of derivatization with charged substrates and electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry is used to fish out the active species in a catalytic reaction. The observed species in the mass spectrometer corresponds to the resting state of the catalyst. Data for the ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of norbornene by (Cy3P)2Cl2Ru=CHPh (Cy=cyclohexyl) are used to illustrate the method.
Adlhart et al. (Wed,) studied this question.