Definition of "olefin" [o•le•fin]

• Any of a class of unsaturated open-chain hydrocarbons such as ethylene, having the general formula CnH2n; an alkene with only one carbon-carbon double bond. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "After nine very productive years at MSU where I started my work in olefin metathesis and a number of other areas of catalysis, I was offered"
• "In a similar way, the discoveries in olefin metathesis have led to new processes that can benefit from detailed mechanistic explorations."
• "Although metallacyclopentanes are not important in olefin metathesis, they have been found to be important in a variety of other olefin dimerization reactions."