ABSTRACT
The aerobic oxidation of α-hydroxycarbonyl compounds was efficiently carried out with a ruthenium catalyst [RuCl2(p-cymene)]2 in the presence of a catalytic amount of base to afford 1,2-diketones or α-ketoesters in good to excellent yields.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was financially supported by Korea Research Foundation Grant (KRF-2000-015-DP0272).