Transition metal catalyzed C-C bond formation : advances in carbonyl addition

Transition metal catalyzed transfer hydrogenative methods for carbon-carbon bond construction are attractive alternatives to tradition carbonyl addition protocols. By generating carbonyl and organometallic species in-situ, these redox-triggered reactions remove the need for preactivation of reactive partners. This affords a more atom and step economic, and ultimately more efficient approach to carbonyl addition. Efforts have been focused on the development of ruthenium and iridium catalyzed coupling reactions of primary alcohols and aldehydes to a variety of unsaturates. To produce highly stereoselective transformations, investigation into the selectivity in iridium catalyzed couplings was undertaken. Improving upon methods for carbonyl addition can provide access to new areas in synthetic organic methodology.