Optically active α-hydroxyphosphinates with both C- and P-stereogenic centers are obtained by rhodium- or iridium-catalyzed substrate-directed stereoselective addition of the optically pure H-phosphinates to aldehydes. The reaction most probably proceeds by a transition-metal-catalyzed mechanism with hydridometal complexes as key intermediates in the catalytic cycle.

tBuONa-catalyzed direct aerobic oxidative cyclocondensation reactions of readily available alcohols and o-thio/hydroxy/aminoanilines under air have been developed and provide an efficient, practical, and green method for the synthesis of benzazoles. Mechanistic studies revealed that o-substituted anilines promote the initial aerobic alcohol-oxidation step, which explains the high reactivity and success of this unexpectedly simple and practical cyclocondensation method.

Direct dehydrative α-alkylation reactions of ketones with alcohols are now realized under simple, practical, and green conditions without using external catalysts. These catalyst-free autocatalyzed alkylation methods can efficiently afford useful alkylated ketone or alcohol products in a one-pot manner and on a large scale by CC bond formation of the in situ generated intermediates with subsequent controllable and selective Meerwein–Pondorf–Verley–Oppenauer-type redox processes.

Direct dehydrative α-alkylation reactions of ketones with alcohols are now realized under simple, practical, and green conditions without using external catalysts. These catalyst-free autocatalyzed alkylation methods can efficiently afford useful alkylated ketone or alcohol products in a one-pot manner and on a large scale by CC bond formation of the in situ generated intermediates with subsequent controllable and selective Meerwein–Pondorf–Verley–Oppenauer-type redox processes.

In contrast to the borrowing hydrogen-type N-alkylation reactions, in which alcohols were activated by transition metal-catalyzed anaerobic dehydrogenation, the addition of external aldehydes was accidentally found to be a simple and effective protocol for alcohol activation. This interesting finding subsequently led to an efficient and green, practical and scalable aldehyde-catalyzed transition metal-free dehydrative N-alkylation method for a variety of amides, amines, and alcohols. Mechanistic studies revealed that this reaction most possibly proceeds via a simple but interesting transition metal-free relay race mechanism.

Different to the borrowing hydrogen strategy in which alcohols were activated by transition metal-catalyzed anaerobic dehydrogenation, the direct addition of aldehydes was found to be an effective but simpler way of alcohol activation that can lead to efficient and green aldehyde-catalyzed transition metal-free dehydrative C-alkylation of methyl carbinols with alcohols. Mechanistic studies revealed that the reaction proceeds via in situ formation of ketones by Oppenauer oxidation of the methyl carbinols by external aldehydes, aldol condensation, and Meerwein–Ponndorf–Verley (MPV)-type reduction of α,β-unsatutated ketones by substrate alcohols, affording the useful long chain alcohols and generating aldehydes and ketones as the by-products that will be recovered in the next condensation to finish the catalytic cycle.

By optimizing the reaction conditions via a careful screening of the bases and solvents, we developed an efficient transition metal-free method for CO cross-coupling of activated and unactivated heteroaryl chlorides with primary and secondary alcohols and phenols, providing a simple, efficient, and practical method for synthesis of the useful unsymmetrical heteroaryl alkyl and heteroaryl aryl ethers.

A general, green, and scalable synthesis of the useful imines and α,β-unsaturated imines is successfully achieved by a low-loading and powerful, mild and efficient copper-catalyzed aerobic oxidative reaction of alcohols and amines in the open air at room temperature under base- and dehydrating reagent-free conditions. This practical reaction can use air as the economic and green oxidant, tolerates a wide range of substrates, can afford high yields of the target imines on a large scale, and produces water as the only by-product, and thus being the best imination method as yet using alcohols and amines directly.

Possibly because homogeneous palladium catalysts are not typical borrowing hydrogen catalysts and ligands are thus ineffective in catalyst activation under conventional anaerobic conditions, they had not been used in the N-alkylation reactions of amines/amides with alcohols in the past. By employing the aerobic relay race methodology with Pd-catalyzed aerobic alcohol oxidation being a more effective protocol for alcohol activation, ligand-free homogeneous palladiums are successfully used as active catalysts in the dehydrative N-alkylation reactions, giving high yields and selectivities of the alkylated amides and amines. Mechanistic studies implied that the reaction most probably proceeds via the novel relay race mechanism we recently discovered and proposed.