Alcohol production method by reducing ester or lactone with hydrogen

摘要

Provided is an alcohol production method comprising the step of reducing an ester or a lactone with hydrogen to produce a corresponding alcohol without addition of a base compound by using, as a catalyst, a ruthenium complex represented by the following general formula (1): €ƒ€ƒ€ƒ€ƒ€ƒ€ƒ€ƒ€ƒ RuH(X)(L 1 )(L 2 ) n €ƒ€ƒ€ƒ€ƒ€ƒ(1) wherein X represents a monovalent anionic ligand, L 1 represents a tetradentate ligand having at least one coordinating phosphino group and at least one coordinating amino group or a bidentate aminophosphine ligand having one coordinating phosphino group and one coordinating amino group, and L 2 represents a bidentate aminophosphine ligand having one coordinating phosphino group and one coordinating amino group, provided that n is 0 when L 1 is the tetradentate ligand, and n is 1 when L 1 is the bidentate aminophosphine ligand.