Ruthenium complex-catalyzed ionic hydrogenation of diols in an acidic medium

This thesis is an investigation of the ruthenium complex cis -[RuII(6,6'-Cl 2-2,2'-bpy)2(OH2)2](CF 3SO3)2 as an effective homogeneous catalyst for the formal hydrogenolysis reaction of terminal 1,2-diols to the corresponding primary alcohols in an acidic environment.;The model reaction converting 1,2-propanediol to n-propanol is investigated in detail, leading to the following optimized reaction conditions: 125°C, 700 psi, 500 mmol/L 1,2-propanediol, 0.5 mol% catalyst load with 30 mmol/L triflic acid, 100 mmol/L NMP (1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone) as the internal standard.;The catalyst can catalyze both the hydrogenation reaction of the polar carbonyl functional group and of the nonpolar alkene double bond under high pressure, i.e., total hydrogenation to the alkanes is a dominant side reaction. When the reaction is conducted with terminal 1,2-diols with higher carbon numbers, the reaction mixtures are emulsions at the end of the experiments. These emulsions are caused by the nonpolar alkanes, which are not soluble in the highly polar sulfolane solvent.