The acid accelerated ruthenium-catalysed dihydroxylation. Scope and limitations

Recently, we discovered a significant rate acceleration in RuO₄-catalysed dihydroxylations of olefins by addition of Brönsted-acids resulting in a reduction of the catalyst loading to only 0.5 mol%. The present paper gives a full account on the optimisation protocol that led to the discovery of the beneficial influence of protic acids. A strong focus is set on the detailed description of the influence of different reaction parameters on both reactivity and selectivity. In the second part an intense investigation of scope and limitations will be presented. The results provided in this manuscript might lead to a deeper understanding of competing processes that influence the selectivity in RuO₄-catalysed dihydroxylations.