Secondary alcohols (carbinols) react withprimary alcohols in dioxane at 80
C in the presence ofa catalytic amount of RuCl
2(PPh
3)
3 and KOH along witha sacrificial hydrogen acceptor to afford the corresponding coupled secondary alcohols. The reaction is applicable to a wide range of aryl methyl, alkyl methyl,and cyclic carbinols, and with alkyl methyl carbinols,the alkylation took place exclusively at the less-hinderedmethyl position over
-methylene and -methine.