Ruthenium Trichloride Catalyzed Highly Efficient Deoximation of Oximes to the Carbonyl Compounds and Nitriles Without Acceptors.

An acceptor-free catalysis protocol for the deoximation of ketoximes and aldoximes using RuCl3 as the catalyst has been developed. Under the optimized conditions, various oximes were converted to ketones and nitriles with excellent isolated yields.