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 ⁱPrOH 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 α-olefins, proceeded smoothly to furnish a diverse range of functionalized alcohols with complete linear regioselectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]