Dimethyl 9-Octadecenedioate and 9-Oktadecene from Methyl Oleate Via a Ruthenium-Catalyzed Homo Olefin Metathesis Reaction

Abstract

Oleic acid, one of the major components of palm oil, has attracted much interest in modern oleochemistry. The internal olefin group in oleic acid is a useful functional group in the transformation of a fatty acid to other functional chemicals and materials. In this paper, we discuss the application of the olefin metathesis reaction by preparing a long-chain dicarboxylic acid and alkene from the ester of oleic acid. The internal olefin metathesis reaction of methyl oleate produced dimethyl 9-oktadecendioate and 9-octadecene in the presence of a ruthenium Grubbs II (second generation) catalyst with a 51% yield. We also found that there was a higher amount of the E isomer products than the Z isomer products.

Keywords

• Dimethyl 9-oktadecenedioate
• Methyl oleate
• Olefin metathesis
• 9-oktadecene