Olefin metathesis interconverts C=C bonds in hydrocarbons and can be tailored to produce an alkene of any desired length. Its versatility opens up a whole new series of reactions and results in numerous industrial applications that produce important petrochemicals, oleochemicals, polymers and specialty chemicals. Heterogeneous alumina and alumina-silica supported rhenium oxides (ReO_x) are extensively investigated due to their catalytic activity at near room temperature. Despite decades of catalysis research, the exact nature of catalytic active sites is not well understood because of the absence of detailed knowledge at molecular level and lack of modern characterization techniques in the past.
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