Patent ID: 7291753

Claim:
A process for the reduction of compounds comprising a carbon-oxygen (C═O) double bond, to a corresponding hydrogenated alcohol comprising contacting a compound comprising the C═O double bond with a hydrogen donor and a catalyst comprising a metal complex having a tridentate aminodiphosphine ligand under transfer hydrogenation conditions, wherein the catalyst comprises a metal complex with a tridentate aminodiphosphine ligand of the formula (II) [M(P 2 NH)Y m ] (II) wherein M is a metal; Y simultaneously or independently are any anionic or neutral ligand; m is an integer representing the number of ligands Y that are required to fulfill the valency requirements of M; and the ligand (P 2 NH) represents a tridentate aminodiphosphine ligand of formula (III): in which R 7 to R 10 simultaneously or independently are selected from the group consisting of H, C 1-20 alkyl, C 2-20 alkenyl, C 3-20 cycloalkyl and aryl, said latter 4 groups being optionally substituted, or two adjacent or geminal groups are bonded together to form an optionally substituted ring; x and y are, simultaneously or independently, equal to 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4; and R is simultaneously or independently selected from the group consisting of H, C 1-20 alkyl, aryl and C 2-20 alkenyl, OR and NR 2 , said latter 5 groups being optionally substituted, or the R groups on the same P atom may be linked together to form an optionally substituted monocyclic or polycyclic ring system having 4 or more atoms, including the phosphorous atom to which said R groups are bonded, which is saturated, unsaturated and/or aromatic and in which one or more carbon atoms in said monocyclic or polycyclic ring system may optionally be replaced with a heteroatom selected from O, S, N, and Si, wherein the optional substituents are selected from one or more of halo, OH, NH 2 , OR c , NR c 2 and R c , in which R c is selected from the group consisting of C 1-6 alkyl, C 2-6 alkenyl and aryl, and wherein the catalyst further optionally comprises a base.