Recent Progress in Re-Catalyzed Dehydroxylation Reactions

The development of novel effective processes for the conversion of abundant renewable resources to fuels and value-added chemicals has spurred new interest in the discovery of selective chemical transformations of polyols and carbohydrates. These compounds have high oxygen content, which is mostly present in the form of hydroxyl groups. Therefore, partial or complete removal of the hydroxyl groups is of great importance. Herein a brief overview on the development of rhenium-catalyzed dehydroxylation reactions in recent years is given, which are roughly classified into two categories: (1) dehydroxylation reactions of monools for new chemical bond formation and (2) dehydroxylation reactions of diols and polyols for olefin syntheses.