Reduction of Phenol

Catalytic hydrogenation of phenol (H2, Ni catalyst, about 433 K/160 degrees C) reduces the entire aromatic ring, giving cyclohexanol: C6H5-OH + 3 H2 (Ni, heat) gives cyclohexanol. This is an industrially important route to cyclohexanol, itself a starting material for nylon manufacture; the reaction adds three moles of hydrogen across all three ring double bonds and is far more forcing than the simple …