Efficient Heterogeneous Palladium-Catalyzed Transfer Hydrogenolysis of Benzylic Alcohols by Formic Acid

An efficient heterogeneous palladium-catalyzed transfer hydrogenolysis­ of primary, secondary, and tertiary benzylic alcohols using formic acid as hydrogen source has been developed. The resulting hydrocarbon products were obtained in excellent yields. Moreover, the system exhibits high chemoselectivity, reacting only with the hydroxy groups in the presence of other functional groups, and excellent re­cyclability.