Vanadium-catalyzed pinacol coupling reaction in water.

A catalytic pinacol coupling using water as a solvent was performed by a catalytic amount of vanadium(III) chloride and metallic Al as a co-reductant. A combination forms a binary catalytic system, being in sharp contrast to the reaction in organic solvent, which requires a chlorosilane as an additive. Various aromatic aldehydes underwent the reductive coupling to give the corresponding 1,2-diols in moderate to good yields.