Homogeneous Ruthenium catalyzed Hydrogenation of Furanoate Esters and Ether-containing aliphatic Esters into primary Alcohols

Furanoate esters have been hydrogenated successfully with ruthenium complexes bearing tetradentate ligands in high yield, high selectivity and with a low catalyst loading. The catalysts and the reaction conditions described herein enabled the facile reduction of a variety of substituted 2- and 3-furanoate esters, with the latter being never reduced before under catalytic hydrogenation conditions. Furthermore, several well-defined ruthenium complexes were evaluated and compared, with bis-imino complexes being the most versatile in terms of reactivity and selectivity.

Automated summary

Furanoate esters were hydrogenated efficiently using ruthenium complexes with tetradentate ligands, achieving high yield, high selectivity, and low catalyst loading. The described catalysts and reaction conditions enabled the reduction of various substituted 2- and 3-furanoate esters, where the latter had not been reduced under catalytic hydrogenation before. Additionally, different ruthenium complexes were evaluated and compared, with bis-imino complexes showing the highest versatility in terms of reactivity and selectivity.