One-pot syntheses of alcohols from olefins through Co/Ru tandem catalysis

The one-pot synthesis of cyclohexylmethanol from cyclohexene has been realized using a tandem catalytic system formed by the Co2(CO)8 complex for hydroformylation and different [Ru(CO)2(PPh3)X2]2 (X: Cl, Br, I) complexes for hydrogenation. The sole ruthenium(II) complexes [Ru(CO)2(PPh3)X2]2 (X: Cl, Br, I) are also able to synthesize cyclohexylmethanol from cyclohexene but a large part of the olefin is hydrogenated to alkane. Furthermore the sole ruthenium complexes are able to hydrogenate aldehydes to the corresponding alcohols even in the presence of carbon monoxide. The tandem catalytic system (Co-Ru) allows for the syntheses of several primary alcohols from the corresponding olefins with a total conversion and a very high selectivity (up to 97%).