Chemoselective control of hydrogenation among aromatic carbonyl and benzyl alcohol derivatives using Pd/C(en) catalyst

The hydrogenolysis of aromatic ketones and aldehydes quite smoothly give the corresponding methylene compounds via the formation of the intermediary benzyl alcohols in the presence of Pd/C as a catalyst. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to isolate the intermediary benzyl alcohol selectively. This paper describes a mild and chemoselective hydrogenation method of an aromatic carbonyl compound to benzyl alcohol using the 10% Pd/C(en) catalyst and its application to the chemoselective deacetoxylation reaction at the benzylic position in the presence of the benzyl alcohol functionality within the molecule.