Ruthenium chloride as an efficient catalytic precursor for hydroarylation reactions via C-H bond activation.

A very simple and efficient catalytic system for the hydroarylation of olefins by aromatic ketones and Michael acceptors using simple and inexpensive ruthenium trichloride as a ruthenium source is described. These very mild conditions (dioxane at 80 degrees C) appeared to be highly compatible, tolerant, and selective toward various functional groups, and the ease of the protocol is highly convenient for synthetic purposes.