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Lewis Acid Promoted Ruthenium(II)‐Catalyzed Etherifications by Selective Hydrogenation of Carboxylic Acids/Esters
Author(s) -
Li Yuehui,
Topf Christoph,
Cui Xinjiang,
Junge Kathrin,
Beller Matthias
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201500062
Subject(s) - chemistry , catalysis , ruthenium , bifunctional , organic chemistry , trifluoromethanesulfonate , carboxylic acid , phosphine , lewis acids and bases , combinatorial chemistry
Ethers are of fundamental importance in organic chemistry and they are an integral part of valuable flavors, fragrances, and numerous bioactive compounds. In general, the reduction of esters constitutes the most straightforward preparation of ethers. Unfortunately, this transformation requires large amounts of metal hydrides. Presented herein is a bifunctional catalyst system, consisting of Ru/phosphine complex and aluminum triflate, which allows selective synthesis of ethers by hydrogenation of esters or carboxylic acids. Different lactones were reduced in good yields to the desired products. Even challenging aromatic and aliphatic esters were reduced to the desired products. Notably, the in situ formed catalyst can be reused several times without any significant loss of activity.