Abstract
The well-defined silica-supported molybdenum oxo alkyl species (≡SiO-)MoO(CH
Bu)
was selectively prepared by grafting of MoO(CH
Bu)
Cl onto partially dehydroxylated silica (silica
) using the surface organometallic chemistry approach. This surface species was fully characterized by elemental analysis and DRIFT, solid-state NMR, and EXAFS spectroscopy. This new material is related to the active species of industrial supported MoO
/SiO
olefin metathesis catalysts. It displays very high activity in propene self-metathesis at mild (turnover number = 90 000 after 25 h). Remarkably, its catalytic performance outpaces those of the parent imido derivative and its tungsten oxo analogue.