A mild chemoselective Ru-catalyzed reduction of alkynes, ketones, and nitro compounds.

The chemoselective reduction of alkyne, ketones, or nitro groups using (Ph3P)3RuCl2 as an inexpensive catalyst and Zn/water as a stoichiometric reductant is reported. Depending on the nature of the additive and the temperature, good chemoselectivities were observed allowing, e.g., for the selective reduction of a nitro group in the presence of a ketone or an alkyne.