Coordinatively saturated hydroxocobalt (III) Schiff base complexes catalyze highly selective aldol reaction of dibenzoylmethanes with formaldehyde in methanol to give 1, 3- dibenzoylpropanes, resulting from retro-Claisen reaction of 1, 1, 3, 3-tetrabenzoylpropanes, which are obtained quantitatively in dichloromethane. Coordinatively saturated cobalt (III) Schiff base complexes ligating a substrate anion as a monodentate ligand is found to be ...