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

Abstract We describe a simple and efficient ruthenium-catalyzed reaction in which propargylic alcohol HC C C(Ph) 2 OH is split into carbon monoxide CO, formaldehyde H 2 C O and ketone (Ph) 2 C O via cleavage of carbon-carbon triple and single bonds. A plausible reaction mechanism is proposed on the basis of ruthenium vinyl and formyl intermediates