The lewis acidic ruthenium-complex-catalyzed addition of beta-diketones to alcohols and styrenes is in fact Brønsted acid catalyzed.

The perchlorate salt of the dicationic bipy-ruthenium complex cis-[Ru(6,6'-Cl2bipy)2(H2O)2]2+ effectively catalyzes addition of beta-diketones to secondary alcohols and styrenes to yield the alpha-alkylated beta-diketones. In a catalytic addition reaction of acetylacetone to 1-phenylethanol, the kappa2-acetylacetonate complex [Ru(6,6'-Cl2bipy)2(kappa2-acac)]ClO4 was isolated after the catalysis; this complex is readily synthesized by reacting cis-[Ru(6,6'-Cl2bipy)2(H2O)2](ClO4)2 with acetylacetone. [Ru(6,6'-Cl2bipy)2(kappa2-acac)]ClO4 is unreactive toward 1-phenylethanol in the presence of HClO4; it also fails to catalyze the addition of acetylacetone to 1-phenylethanol. On the basis of these observations, it is proposed and confirmed by independent experiments that the catalytic addition of beta-diketones to the secondary alcohols is in fact catalyzed by the Brønsted acid HClO4, which is generated by the reaction of cis-[Ru(6,6'-Cl2bipy)2(H2O)2](ClO4)2 with the beta-diketone.