Abstract text

Provided is an alcohol production method comprising the step of reducing an ester or a lactone with hydrogen to produce a corresponding alcohol without addition of a base compound by using, as a catalyst, a ruthenium complex represented by the following general formula (1):

RuH(X)(L¹)(L²)_n   (1)

wherein

• • X represents a monovalent anionic ligand,
  • L¹ represents a tetradentate ligand having at least one coordinating phosphino group and at least one coordinating amino group or a bidentate aminophosphine ligand having one coordinating phosphino group and one coordinating amino group, and
  • L² represents a bidentate aminophosphine ligand having one coordinating phosphino group and one coordinating amino group, provided that
  • n is 0 when L¹ is the tetradentate ligand, and n is 1 when L¹ is the bidentate aminophosphine ligand.