Berzelius Elimination reactions

Noble metal salts, for example, of Pd(II) or Pt(II), undergo reduction by primary and secondary alcohols inhomogeneous solution. Indeed, the ability of alcohols to reduce Pd(II) was described as early as 1828 by Berzelius, who showed that K2PdCl4 was reduced to palladium metal in an aqueous ethanolic solution [25]. The reaction involves a [3-hydride elimination from an alkoxymetal intermediate and is a commonly used method for the preparation of noble metal hydrides (Eq. (5.1)). In the presence of dioxygen this leads to catalytic oxidative dehydrogenation of the alcohol, for example, with palladium salts [26-30]. 

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