Dehydrogenative Synthesis of Carboxylic Acids from Primary Alcohols and Hydroxide Catalyzed by a Ruthenium N-Heterocyclic Carbene Complex

Primary alcohols have been reacted with hydroxide and the ruthenium complex [RuCl2(IiPr)(p-cymene)] to afford carboxylic acids and dihydrogen. The dehydrogenative reaction is performed in toluene, which allows for a simple isolation of the products by precipitation and extraction. The transformation can be applied to a range of benzylic and saturated aliphatic alcohols containing halide and (thio)ether substituents, while olefins and ester groups are not compatible with the reaction conditions.

Benzylic alcohols undergo faster conversion than other substrates, and a competing Cannizzaro reaction is most likely involved in this case. The kinetic isotope effect was determined to be 0.67 using 1-butanol as the substrate. A plausible catalytic cycle was characterized by DFT/B3LYP-D3 and involved coordination of the alcohol to the metal, β-hydride elimination, hydroxide attack on the coordinated aldehyde, and a second β-hydride elimination to furnish the carboxylate.