Catalytic C-O bond cleavage of 2-aryloxy-1-arylethanols and its application to the depolymerization of lignin-related polymers

A ruthenium-catalyzed, redox neutral C-O bond cleavage of 2-aryloxy-1-arylethanols is developed to obtain cleavage products in 62-98% isolated yield. Initial mechanistic study results indicated that the ether cleavage is most likely an organometallic C-O activation while a catalytic depolymerization of a lignin-related polymer quantitatively yields the corresponding monomer with no added reagent.