Acceptorless Ruthenium Catalyzed Dehydrogenation of alcohols to ketones and esters
Résumé
The ruthenium complex [RuCl2(p-cymene)(IMes)] catalyses the dehydrogenation of alcohols in the presence of K3PO4 as a base and without a hydrogen acceptor. Secondary alcohols are converted to the corresponding ketones whereas primary alcohols are transformed into esters. The dehydrogenation protocol was successfully extended to the dehydrogenation of methyl ricinoleate, a renewable fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), furnishing in high yields the saturated keto-ester methyl 12-oxostearate via a hydrogen borrowing alcohol dehydrogenation-alkene hydrogenation tandem reaction.