Selective Hydrogenation of Cyclic Ester to α,ω-Diol Catalyzed by Cationic Ruthenium Complexes with Trialkylphosphine Ligands

Cyclic esters like γ-butyrolactone were smoothly hydrogenated in the presence of a series of ruthenium complexes with trialkylphosphine ligands under mild conditions to afford the correspondig α,ω-diols with high selectivity. The ruthenium complexes prepared in the presence of additional NH4PF6 or H3PO4 turned out to have the superior catalytic activity.