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...