A wool–Pt complex was prepared by the reaction of wool with chloroplatinic acid in ethanol solution, and was found to be useful as a chiral catalyst for the asymmetric hydrogenation of some ketones to corresponding chiral alcohols, such as 3-methyl-2-butanone to (R)-3-methyl-2-butanol, 4-methyl-2-pentanone to (R)-4-methyl-2-pentanol, acetophenone to (R)-1-phenylethanol and propiophenone to (R)-1-phenyl-1-propanol at 30 °C and under an atmospheric hydrogen pressure. In the case of hydrogenation of 3-methyl-2-butanone to (R)-3-methyl-2-butanol, when a proper content of Pt in the wool–Pt complex was selected, the yield and optical yield amounted to about 100% respectively, and the wool–Pt complex catalyst could be reused without any change in the optical catalytic activity. Wool is a very cheap natural bio-polymer ligand, and Wool–Pt complex is very easy to prepare, and it is a very active, enantioselective and stable chiral catalyst for asymmetric hydrogenation of some ketones. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.