Patent ID: 8288575

Claim:
A method for producing an alcohol, the method comprising the step of reducing an ester or a lactone with hydrogen to produce a corresponding alcohol without addition of a base compound in the presence of, as a catalyst, a ruthenium complex represented by the following general formula (1): RuH(X)(L 1 )â€ƒâ€ƒ(1) wherein X represents BH 4 , L 1 represents a tetradentate ligand represented by the following general formula (2): wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , R 5 and R 6 , which may be same or different, each represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group which may have a substituent, an aralkyl group which may have a substituent, an aryl group which may have a substituent, or a cycloalkyl group which may have a substituent, R 1 and another R 1 , R 1 and either R 2 , R 3 or R 4 , R 3 and R 4 , or R 5 and R 6 may bond to each other to form a ring, and Q 1 represents a bond, and Q 2 represents a divalent arylene group which may have a substituent.