Hydrogenation Catalyzed by PVP-Ru Nanoparticles

Significance

Fast aqueous/organic hydrogenations of arenes, olefins and carbonyl compounds were successfully achieved using an amphiphilic PVP-Ru catalyst. Thus, RuCl₃·H₂O was treated with PVP in H₂O to give a solution of PVP-Ru(III). This solution was treated with H₂ to afford the aqueous solution of PVP-Ru 1 (eq. 1). It showed good catalytic activity for hydrogenation of arenes (eq. 2), olefins (eq. 3) and carbonyl compounds (eqs. 4 and 5). All the hydrogenation TOFs exceeded 1,000 h^-1. It is noted that the hydrogenation TOF of benzene reached 45,000 h^-1. Furthermore, no leaching of Ru was observed by ICP analysis, and PVP-Ru solution 1 can be reused three times without significant loss of catalytic activity.