Metal-catalyzed reductive coupling has emerged as an alternative to the use of stoichiometric organometallic reagents in an increasingly diverse range of carbonyl and imine additions. In this review, the use of diene, allene, and enyne pronucleophiles in intermolecular carbonyl and imine reductive couplings are surveyed, along with related hydrogen autotransfer processes.

The first catalytic enantioselective carbonyl (α-amino)allylations are described. Phthalimido-allene 1 and primary alcohols 2a−2z, 2a′−2c′ engage in hydrogen auto-transfer-mediated carbonyl reductive coupling by way of (α-amino)allyliridium−aldehyde pairs to form vicinal amino alcohols 3a−3z, 3a′−3c′ with high levels of regio-, anti-diastereo-, and enantioselectivity. Reaction progress kinetic analysis and isotopic labeling studies corroborate a catalytic cycle involving turnover-limiting alcohol dehydrogenation followed by rapid allene hydrometalation.

Using an iridium catalyst modified by PhanePhos, CF3-allenes react with methanol to form branched products of hydrohydroxymethylation as single regioisomers with excellent levels of enantiomeric enrichment. This hydrogen auto-transfer process enables catalytic enantioselective formation of acyclic CF3-bearing all-carbon quaternary stereocenters in the absence of stoichiometric metals or byproducts.

Iridium complexes modified by PhanePhos catalyze the 2-propanol-mediated reductive coupling of diverse 1,1-disubstituted allenes 1a-1u with fluoral hydrate 2a to form CF 3-substituted secondary alcohols 3a-3u that incorporate acyclic quaternary carbon-containing stereodiads. By exploiting concentration-dependent stereoselectivity effects related to the interconversion of kinetic (Z)-and thermodynamic (E)-σ-allyliridium isomers, adducts 3a-3u are formed with complete levels of branched regioselectivity and high levels of anti-diastereoand enantioselectivity. The utility of this method for construction of CF 3-oxetanes and CF 3-azetidines is illustrated by the formation of 4a and 6a, respectively. Studies of the reaction mechanism aimed at illuminating the singular effectiveness of PhanePhos as a supporting ligand in this and related transformations have led to the identification of a chromatographically stable cyclometallated iridium-(R)-PhanePhos complex Ir-PP-I that is catalytically competent for allene-fluoral reductive coupling and previously reported transfer hydrogenative CC couplings of dienes or CF 3-allenes with methanol. Deuterium labelling studies, reaction progress kinetic analysis (RPKA) and computational studies corroborate a catalytic mechanism involving rapid allene hydrometalation followed by turnover-limiting carbonyl addition. A computationally determined stereochemical

The air and water stable π-allyliridium C,O-benzoate modified by (S)-tol-BINAP, (S)-Ir-II, catalyzes highly regio- and enantioselective Tsuji-Trost type aminations of racemic branched alkyl-substituted allylic acetates using primary or secondary (hetero)aromatic amines. Specifically, in the presence of (S)-Ir-II (5 mol%) in DME solvent at 60-70 °C, α-methyl allyl acetate 1a (100 mol%) reacts with primary (hetero)aromatic amines 2a-2l (200 mol%) or secondary (hetero)aromatic amines 3a-3l (200 mol%) to form the branched products of allylic amination 4a-4l and 5a-5l, respectively, as single regioisomers in good to excellent yield with uniformly high levels of enantioselectivity. As illustrated by the conversion of heteroaromatic amine 3m to adducts 6a-6g, excellent levels of regio- and enantioselectivity are retained across diverse branched allylic acetates bearing normal alkyl or secondary alkyl substituents. For reactants 3n-3p, which incorporate both primary and secondary aryl amine moieties, regio- and enantioselective amination occurs with complete site-selectivity to furnish adducts 7a-7c. Mechanistic studies involving amination of the enantiomerically enriched deuterium labelled acetate 1h corroborate C-N bond formation via outer-sphere addition.