Asymmetric hydration of alkenes catalyzed by wool‐palladium complex

A wool‐palladium complex has been found to be able to catalyze the asymmetric hydration of 1‐octene to (S)‐(+)‐2‐octanol and 1‐decene to (R)‐(+)‐2‐decanol under 1 atm N₂ and at 70°C. The optical yields were greatly affected by Pd content in wool‐palladium complex, reaction time and so on, when the proper conditions were selected, (S)‐(+)‐2‐octanol and (R)‐(+)‐2‐decanol could be obtained in 83.2 and 75.6%e.e. optical yield respectively. This chiral natural biopolymer‐palladium complex catalyst was very easy to prepare and could be reused several times without appreciable change in catalytic activity. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.