A general and selective copper-catalyzed reduction of secondary amides.

In situ-generated cationic copper/pybox catalyst systems allow for the selective reduction of secondary amides into the corresponding amines under mild conditions. This novel protocol has a wide substrate scope and shows good functional group tolerance.

Iridium catalysis for C-H bond arylation of heteroarenes with iodoarenes.

Efficient couplings using equimolar quantities of each coupling partner and multiple C-H bond arylation reactions are achieved with an Ir-based catalytic system for the C-H bond arylation of electron-rich heteroarenes with iodoarenes to construct extended pi-systems. The dramatic ligand effect on reaction efficiency leads to the discovery that Crabtree's catalyst (see scheme) is the optimal catalyst precursor.

Pallado-catalysed hydrophosphination of alkynes: access to enantio-enriched P-stereogenic vinyl phosphine-boranes.

Preliminary results dealing with the synthesis of non-racemic P-stereogenic vinylphosphine-boranes by hydrophosphination of alkynes in the presence of a chiral catalyst are reported.