Banana and maize leaf wastes as a green alternative for the preparation of benzyl alcohols used as starting materials for fragrances.

a b s t r a c t A general and practical methodology for the efficient reduction of aromatic aldehydes to their corre- sponding alcohols with good to excellent chemical yield was developed using freshly cut leaves of maize and banana under mild reaction conditions. Overall, higher yields were obtained using maize leaves, and banana leaves were unable to reduce the unsubstituted aldehydes. Additionally 4-hydroxy-aromatic carboxylic acids were decarboxylated and the hydrolysis of benzoic esters did not take place.