Solid-supported ruthenium(0): an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for hydration of nitriles to amides under microwave irradiation

Solid-supported ruthenium(0) was synthesized by the reduction deposition method and used as a heterogeneous catalyst for the hydration of nitriles to amides under microwave irradiation. A wide range of aromatic, α,β-unsaturated and aliphatic nitriles were efficiently converted to their corresponding primary amides under milder conditions. The catalyst was found to be very stable under moisture and microwave irradiation, easily separable from the reaction mixture, to cause negligible metal contamination of the product and was recyclable up to ten times without significant loss of catalytic activity.