α-Olefins are the most abundant petrochemical feedstock beyond alkanes, yet their use in commodity chemical manufacture is largely focused on polymerization and hydroformylation. The development of byproduct-free catalytic C-C bond forming reactions that convert olefins to value-added products remains an important objective. Here, we review catalytic intermolecular reductive couplings of unactivated and activated olefin-derived nucleophiles with carbonyl partners. These processes represent an alternative to the longstanding use of stoichiometric organometallic reagents in carbonyl addition.

Heteroaromatic secondary alcohols react with isoprene to form products of hydrohydroxyalkylation in the presence of ruthenium(0) catalysts generated from Ru3(CO)12 and tricyclohexylphosphine, enabling direct conversion of secondary to tertiary alcohols in the absence of premetallated reagents or stoichiometric byproducts. The putative oxaruthenacycle intermediate has been isolated, characterized and reversible metallacycle formation has been demonstrated.

We report a visible light-mediated flow process for C–N cross-coupling of (hetero)­aryl halides with a variety of amine coupling partners through the use of a photoredox/nickel dual catalyst system. Compared to the method in batch, this flow process enables a broader substrate scope, including less-activated (hetero)­aryl bromides and electron-deficient (hetero)­aryl chlorides, and significantly reduced reaction times (10 to 100 min). Furthermore, scale up of the reaction, demonstrated through the synthesis of tetracaine, is easily achieved, delivering the C–N cross-coupled products in consistently high yield of 84% on up to a 10 mmol scale.

Upon exposure of acrylic ester 1 to alcohols 2a–2i in the presence of a cyclometallated iridium catalyst modified by (−)-TMBTP, catalytic C-C coupling occurs to provide enantiomerically enriched 5-substituted α-exo-methylene γ-butyrolactones 3a–3i. Bromination of the methylene butyrolactone products followed by zinc mediated reductive aldehyde addition provides the disubstituted α-exo-methylene γ-butyrolactones 6a and 6b with good to excellent levels of diastereoselectivity.

The cationic ruthenium catalyst generated upon the acid-base reaction of H2Ru(CO)(PPh3)3 and 2,4,6-(2-Pr)3PhSO3H promotes the redox-triggered C-C coupling of 2-alkynes and primary alcohols to form (Z)-homoallylic alcohols with good to complete control of olefin geometry. Deuterium labeling studies, which reveal roughly equal isotopic compositions at the allylic and distal vinylic positions, along with other data, corroborate a catalytic mechanism involving ruthenium(0)-mediated allene-aldehyde oxidative coupling to form a transient oxaruthenacycle; an event that ultimately defines (Z)-olefin stereochemistry.

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A strategy for catalytic vinyl transfer from enol carboxylates to activated secondary alcohol C-H bonds is described. Using XPhos-modified ruthenium(0) or osmium(0) complexes, enol carboxylate-carbonyl oxidative coupling forms transient β-carboxy-oxametallacycles, which eliminate carboxylate to deliver allylic ruthenium(II) or osmium(II) alkoxides. Reduction of the metal(II) salt via hydrogen transfer from the secondary alcohol reactant releases the product of carbinol C-H vinylation and regenerates ketone and zero-valent catalyst.

Osmium(0) complexes derived from Os3(CO)12 and XPhos (2-dicyclohexylphosphino-2′,4′,6′-triisopropylbiphenyl) catalyze the C-C coupling of α-hydroxy esters 1a-1i, α-ketols 1j-1o or 1,2-diols dihydro-1j-1o with ethylene 2a to form ethylated tertiary alcohols 3a-3o. As illustrated in couplings of 1-octene 2b with vicinally dioxygenated reactants 1a, 1b, 1i, 1j, 1k, 1m, higher α-olefins are converted to adducts 4a, 4b, 4i, 4j, 4k, 4m with complete levels of branched regioselectivity. Oxidation level independent C-C coupling is demonstrated by the reaction of 1-octene 2b with diol dihydro-1k, α-ketol 1k and dione dehydro-1k. Functionalized olefins 2c-2f react with ethyl mandelate 1a to furnish adducts 5a-8a as single regioisomers. The collective data, including deuterium labeling studies, are consistent with a catalytic mechanism involving olefin-dione oxidative coupling to form an oxa-osmacyclopentane, which upon reductive cleavage via hydrogen transfer from the secondary alcohol reactant releases the product of carbinol C-alkylation with regeneration of the ketone. Single crystal X-ray diffraction data of the dinuclear complex Os2(CO)4(O2CR)2(XPhos)2 and the trinuclear complex Os3(CO)11(XPhos) are reported. These studies suggest increased π-backbonding at the stage of the metal-olefin π-complex plays a critical role in facilitating alkene-carbonyl oxidative coupling, as isostructural ruthenium(0) complexes, which are weaker π-donors, do not catalyze the transformations reported herein.