Challenges Arising from Continuous Flow Olefin Metathesis

The versatility of olefin metathesis is evident from its successful applications ranging from natural product synthesis to the valorization of renewable feedstocks. On the other side, flow chemistry has recently gained particular interest among the syn- thetic community, offering valuable alternatives to classic batch chemistry and paving the way to the development of new trans- formations. The application of continuous flow to olefin metathesis represents one of the most promising evolutions in the field at the interface of industrially relevant synthesis and reactor engineering, significantly improving some of the typical problems such as un- desired self-reactions and ethylene-mediated catalyst de-activa- tion. This review aims to provide a small survey covering the ma- jor aspects of those techniques which we hope may be of interest for the chemical community, but also those interested in catalysis, continuous processing, enabling technologies and reactor design.