On Water and in Air: Fast and Highly Chemoselective Transfer Hydrogenation of Aldehydes with Iridium Catalysts

Water as solvent: A fast, selective, and high-yielding transfer hydrogenation of a wide range of aldehydes is achieved using IrIII catalysts containing simple ethylenediamine (en) ligands (see scheme; Ts= p-toluenesulfonyl, TOF=turnover frequency). This procedure is suitable for aldehydes with a wide range of functional groups.