Supercritical2-propanol selectively reduced unsaturated aldehydes to the corresponding unsaturated alcohols at 573 K. The formation of saturated aldehydes or saturated alcohols was negligible. The reduction of unsaturated aldellydes to unsaturated alcohols using supercritical 2-propanol is useful for the industrial production of fine chemicals because it proceeds without the further addition of a catalyst and generates no by-products other than an oxidation product, acetone, from the supercritical alcohol. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.