Aromatic aldehydes are reduced to the corresponding alcohols in dioxane at 80°C in the presence of a catalytic amount of a ruthenium catalyst together with KOH in moderate to good yields.
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2.
For recent reviews, see: NoyoriR., and HashiguchiS., Acc. Chem. Res., 1997, 30, 97; T. Naota, H. Takaya and S.-I. Murahashi, Chem. Rev., 1998, 98, 2599; M. Palmer and M. Wills, Tetrahedron: Asymmetry, 1999, 10, 2045.
3.
Formation of indoles: ChoC.S., LimH. K., ShimS. C., KimT.-J., and ChoiH.-J., Chem. Commun., 1998, 995; C. S. Cho, J. H. Kim and S. C. Shim, Tetrahedron Lett., 2000, 41, 1811; C. S. Cho, J. H. Kim, T.-J. Kim and S. C. Shim, Tetrahedron, 2001, 57, 3321.
4.
Formation of quinolines: ChoC.S., OhB. H., and ShimS. C., Tetrahedron Lett., 1999, 40, 1499; C. S. Cho, J. S. Kim, B. H. Oh, T.-J. Kim, S. C. Shim and N. S. Yoon, Tetrahedron, 2000, 56, 7747; C. S. Cho, B. H. Oh, J. S. Kim, T.-J. Kim and S. C. Shim, Chem. Commun., 2000, 1885; C. S. Cho, B. T. Kim, T.-J. Kim and S. C. Shim, Chem. Commun., 2001, 2576; C. S. Cho, T. K. Kim, B. T. Kim, T.-J. Kim and S. C. Shim, J. Organomet. Chem., 2002, 650, 65.
ChoC.S., KimB. T., KimT.-J., and ShimS. C., J. Org. Chem., 2001, 66, 9020; C. S. Cho, B. T. Kim, T.-J. Kim and S. C. Shim, Tetrahedron Lett., 2002, 43, 7987.
7.
Strong bases are frequently used as cocatalysts to promote transition metal-catalysed transfer hydrogenation: see ref 2.
8.
ImaiH., NishiguchiT., and FukuzumiK., J. Org. Chem., 1976, 41, 665.
9.
GeissmanT.A., Organic Reactions, ed. AdamsR., Wiley, New York, 1996, Vol. 2, pp. 94–113.
10.
AnwerM.K., ShermanD. B., RoneyJ. G., and SpatolaA. F., J. Org. Chem., 1989, 54, 1284.
11.
CuculluM.E., NolanS. P., BelderrainT. R., and GrubbsR. H., Organometallics, 1999, 18, 1299.
12.
LeeD.H., KimS. I., JunJ. H., OhY. H., and KamS. K., J. Korean Chem. Soc., 1997, 41, 639.
