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The 'green' reduction of carboxylic acids to alcohols is a challenging task in organic chemistry. Herein, we describe a general protocol for generation of alcohols by catalytic hydrogenation of carboxylic acids. Key to success is the use of a combination of Ru(acac)3, triphos and Lewis acids. The novel method showed broad substrate tolerance and a variety of aliphatic carboxylic acids including biomass-derived compounds can be smoothly reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethers are of fundamental importance in organic chemistry and they are an integral part of valuable flavors, fragrances, and numerous bioactive compounds. In general, the reduction of esters constitutes the most straightforward preparation of ethers. Unfortunately, this transformation requires large amounts of metal hydrides. Presented herein is a bifunctional catalyst system, consisting of Ru/phosphine complex and aluminum triflate, which allows selective synthesis of ethers by hydrogenation of esters or carboxylic acids. Different lactones were reduced in good yields to the desired products. Even challenging aromatic and aliphatic esters were reduced to the desired products. Notably, the in situ formed catalyst can be reused several times without any significant loss of activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]