Catalytic Performance of Ruthenium-Supported Ionic-Liquid Catalysts in Sustainable Synthesis of Macrocyclic Lactones

Thirteen- to eighteen-membered lactones were synthesized by ring-closing olefin-metathesis reactions of bis-olefins with heterogeneous Grubbs-supported ionic-liquid catalysts (SILCs), in which homogeneous Grubbs catalysts were confined in pores of alumina with the aid of an ionic liquid. The Grubbs-SILCs exhibited higher catalytic performance than their homogeneous counterparts and could be repeatedly recovered by simple filtration and re-used several times.