Patent ID: 7718827

Claim:
A process for preparing aldehydes of the general formula (I), where R 1 hydrogen atom and R 2 is benzyl, phenyl, naphthyl or anthracenyl which may be monsubstituted, disubstituted or trisubstituted by radicals selected from the group consisting of C 1 -C 6 -alkyl, C 1 -C 6 -haloalkyl, C 5 -C 14 -aryl, C 1 -C 6 -alkoxy, C 1 -C 6 -alkoxycarbonyl, halogen, hydroxyl, nitro, and cyano comprising reacting one or more compound(s) of the general formula (II), where R 1 and R 2 are as defined above, with an alkali metal hypochlorite or an alkaline earth metal hypochlorite in the presence of a ruthenium catalyst wherein the ruthenium catalyst comprises the general formula (IIIa) or (IIIb) Ru/support (IIIa) Ru/TM/support (IIIb), where TM is a transition metal and support is an inorganic support material, comprising a porous inorganic solid selected from the group consisting of activated carbon, titanium dioxide and zirconium dioxide.