Isolation of ruthenium formyl complexes: Insight into the metal-mediated cleavage reaction of carbon-carbon triple bond

We describe a simple and efficient ruthenium-catalyzed reaction in which propargylic alcohol HCαCβ-Cγ(R1R2)OH is split into carbon monoxide CαO, formaldehyde H2CβO and ketone (R1R2)CγO via cleavage of carbon-carbon triple and single bonds. A plausible reaction mechanism is proposed on the basis of ruthenium vinyl and formyl intermediates.125