Ruthenium(ii)-catalyzed olefination via carbonyl reductive cross-coupling† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental details. See DOI: 10.1039/c7sc04207h

Natural availability of carbonyl groups offers reductive carbonyl coupling tremendous synthetic potential for efficient olefin synthesis, yet the catalytic carbonyl cross-coupling remains largely elusive. We report herein such a reaction, mediated by hydrazine under ruthenium(ii) catalysis. This method enables facile and selective cross-couplings of two unsymmetrical carbonyl compounds in either an intermolecular or intramolecular fashion. Moreover, this chemistry accommodates a variety of substrates, proceeds under mild reaction conditions with good functional group tolerance, and generates stoichiometric benign byproducts. Importantly, the coexistence of KO t Bu and bidentate phosphine dmpe is vital to this transformation.