Transfer Hydrogenation in Water

This article provides an account of our group's efforts in developing aqueous-phase transfer hydrogenation reactions. It is comprised of mainly two parts. The first part concentrates on asymmetric transfer hydrogenation in water, enabled by Noyori-Ikariya catalysts, while the second part is concerned with the achiral version of the reaction catalysed by a new class of catalysts, iridacycles. A range of substrates are featured, including various carbonyl compounds and N-heterocycles.