Selective reduction of dienes/polyenes using sodium borohydride/catalytic ruthenium(III) in various liquid amide aqueous mixtures

An efficient method to effect selective reduction of several structurally diverse dienes and an unsymmetrical triene is reported. The reduction is facile at 0 °C in a liquid amide aqueous solution containing sodium borohydride in the presence of 15 mol % ruthenium(III) chloride. The chemoselectivity of the reaction is controlled by proper choice of the liquid amide solvent.