Ethenolysis

In organic chemistry, ethenolysis is a chemical process in which internal olefins are degraded using ethylene (H₂C=CH₂) as the reagent. The reaction is an example of cross metathesis. The utility of the reaction is driven by the low cost of ethylene as a reagent and its selectivity. It produces compounds with terminal alkene functional groups (α-olefins), which are more amenable to other reactions such as polymerization and hydroformylation.

The general reaction equation is:

${\displaystyle {\ce {A=B}}+{\color {red}{\ce {CH2=CH2}}}\longrightarrow {\ce {A=}}{\color {red}{\ce {CH2}}}+{\ce {B=}}{\color {red}{\ce {CH2}}}}$

Ethenolysis is a form of methylenation, i.e., the installation of methylene (−CH₂−) groups.