A metal-free reduction of nitro aromatics mediated by di­boronic acid with water as both the hydrogen donor and solvent under mild conditions has been developed. A series of aromatic amines were obtained with good functional group tolerance and in good yields.

An exclusive asymmetric reduction of C=O of 2-arylidene four-, five-, six-, and seven-membered cycloalkanones has been studied systematically. The asymmetric transfer hydrogenation was performed using robust and commercially available chiral...