Iron-Catalyzed Regioselective Transfer Hydrogenative Couplings of Unactivated Aldehydes with Simple Alkenes.

An FeBr3-catalyzed reductive coupling of various aldehydes with alkenes that proceeds through a direct hydride transfer pathway has been developed. With (PrOH)-Pr-i as the hydrogen donor under mild conditions, previously challenging coupling reactions of unactivated alkyl and aryl aldehydes with simple alkenes, such as styrene derivatives and alpha-olefins, proceeded smoothly to furnish a diverse range of functionalized alcohols with complete linear regioselectivity.