RUTHENIUM-CATALYZED ESTERIFICATION OF OLEFIN WITH METHYL FORMATE.

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/0304-5102(88)80030-0

On the basis of previous findings, we attempted a reaction of methyl formate activated by metal complex with olefin to produce ester, and found that the reaction took place using the ruthenium dihydride complex catalyst, RuH//2 (PPh//3)//4. We will discuss this novel synthetic reaction which has not previously been reported. A catalyst screening was made first by using many kinds of transition metal complexes, in order to discover an effective catalyst for the reaction. As a result, RuH//2(PPh//3)//4 was found to be a unique effective catalyst among the complexes tested, although the reaction conditions used may not have been adequate for catalyst screening. Other catalysts, for example RuH-(CO)(PPh//3)//3, showed some activity but gave very poor results, mainly catalyzing the decomposition of methyl formate.