Production of Alcohols from Olefins via One-Pot Tandem Hydroformylation-Acetalization-Hydrogenolysis over Bifunctional Catalyst Merging Ru^III-P Complex and Ru^III Lewis Acid

A novel three-step tandem hydroformylation-acetalization-hydrogenolysis was first proposed to produce alcohols (derivatives) from olefins, and the developed unique Ru(III)-complex [Ru(III)-L2] ligated by the ionic diphosphine (L2) proved efficient toward this tandem reaction. In Ru(III)-L2, the strong π-acceptor nature of L2 guaranteed Ru-center remaining in +3 valence state without redox reaction. Hence, Ru(III)-L2 was able to behave as a bifunctional catalyst merging Ru^III-P complex and Ru^III Lewis acid, which acted not only as a transition metal catalyst responsible for hydroformylation of olefins and hydrogenolysis of (hemi)acetals but also as a Ru³⁺ Lewis acid in charge of acetalization of aldehydes [to form (hemi)acetals]. The easily performed acetalization served as a bridge step to get through the pathway from aldehydes to alcohols instead of the direct hydrogenation.