Acceptorless Dehydrogenative Coupling of Ethanol and Hydrogenation of Esters and Imines

This paper presents an outstanding air-stable ruthenium catalyst that has unprecedented efficiency (TON up to 17 000) for acceptorless dehydrogenative coupling of ethanol, yielding ethyl acetate and hydrogen gas, and for hydrogenation of esters and imines at 40 degrees C while using as low as 50 ppm [Ru].