Green chemistry: C–C coupling and asymmetric reduction by innovative catalysis

A catalytic method has been developed, which allows aryl halides to couple with various electron-rich olefins to give 1,1′-substituted olefins. The palladium-catalysed coupling in ionic liquid solvent proceeds with high efficiency and remarkable regioselectivity without the need for any costly or toxic halide scavengers. Parallel to this, an environmentally-appealing method for the asymmetric reduction of ketones has been established, with which a variety of chiral alcohols can be accessed with high enantioselectivity in water with no need for any organic solvents. The same chemistry has been explored for the reduction of aldehydes, which is shown to be fast and highly chemoselective. These methods add new tools to the armoury of synthetic chemists.