Hydrogenation of Ketones with SBA-15 Supported Ruthenium Catalyst

Abstract

A chiral ruthenium catalyst bound to a mesoporous SBA-15 material [Ru-SBA-15/(R,R)-DPEN, 1] was prepared by the postgrafting method. The hydrogenation of aromatic ketones was carried out with the catalyst 1 to give the ­corresponding ethanols in >99% yield and 98.4-99.9% ee (5 examples). In the reaction of aceto­phenone, the catalyst was recovered by filtration and reused seven times. The eighth recycling run gave (R)-1-phenyl-1-ethanol in >99% yield with 93.6% ee.