The general procedure for the synthesis of isopropyl hydroxyacetate from dimethyl oxalate was as follows: first, the hydrogenation of the ester compound was carried out using bipyridyltetraethylruthenium complex 5 as a catalyst. The specific reaction conditions were as follows: the ratio of substrate to catalyst (S/C) was 1000, the amount of substrate was 3.0 mmol, the amount of catalyst 5 was 3.0 μmol, the solvent was 3.0 mL of isopropanol (iPrOH), and 0.3 mmol of sodium methanol (NaOMe) was added as the base, and the hydrogen pressure was 5 MPa, and the temperature of the reaction was 25 ℃. The reaction results are detailed in Table 2, which lists the hydrogenation results of other ester compounds under the same conditions.
