Ruthenium-Catalyzed Deaminative Hydrogenation of Aliphatic and Aromatic Nitriles to Primary Alcohols

The deaminative hydrogenation of nitriles towards alcohols is a useful reaction to transform nitriles into alcohols with NH3 as the sole byproduct. Using the simple and robust RuHCl(CO)(PPh3)(3) complex as a catalyst, at low H-2 pressures a series of aliphatic and aromatic nitriles could be transformed into the corresponding alcohols. Suitable solvent systems for these reactions were 1,4-dioxane/water and EtOH/water mixtures. In most cases, the selectivity for the alcohols was excellent, and the corresponding amines were formed only in trace amounts.