Water-soluble organometallic ruthenium(II) complexes supported on Dawson-type polyoxotungstates as precatalysts: Selective oxidation of alcohols with 1 atm molecular oxygen

Water-soluble organometallic Ru (II) complexes supported on Dawson-type polyoxometalates, K8[{(benzene)RuII(H2O)}(α2-P2W17O61)] · 12H2O (1) and K8[{(p-cymene)RuII(H2O)}(α2-P2W17O61)] · 16H2O (2), can act as homogeneous catalyst precursors for the selective oxidations of a wide variety of alcohols with 1 atm molecular oxygen in water-alcohol biphasic media without any additives. Among the ruthenium-containing polyoxometalates, complex 2 showed the highest activities, 4–167 turnover numbers with high selectivities for carbonyl products.