Titanium complexes bearing an unprecedented tridentate cyclopentadienyl-silsesquioxanate ligand provide a new class of efficient and selective catalysts for epoxidation of olefins with aqueous hydrogen peroxide under homogeneous conditions.

A reaction platform based on a cyclodextrin dimer, which is able to simultaneously include a substrate in one cavity and an organometallic catalyst into the other, proved to be highly efficient for aqueous hydroformylation reaction of higher olefins.

This manuscript describes facile ring-opening/cross-metathesis (ROCM) reactions between unsymmetrical norbornene derivatives and electron-rich olefins in the presence of the second-generation Grubbs' catalyst to generate highly substituted furans and pyrroles.

Some novel ortho-substituted BINOL-derived bisphosphorous ligands (o-BINAPO and o-NAPHOS) were synthesis from readily available (S)-BINOL; these ligands showed excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee) in Rh(I)-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of functionalized olefins.

Pd-catalyzed reaction of N-tosylhydrazones with benzyl halides affords di- and trisubstituted olefins in high yields with excellent stereoselectivity. This coupling reaction is supposed to proceed through a migratory insertion of Pd carbene species.

A new chiral silicon-linked tridentate amido-indenyl ligand was developed from indene and enantiopure 1,2-cyclohexanediamine. Its yttrium complex was synthesized, characterized and applied to efficiently catalyze the intramolecular hydroamination of non-activated olefins with up to 97% ee.

The coupling of β-hydroxy α-diazocarbonyl compounds with aryl halides is described, which proceeds through a Pd-catalyzed migratory insertion/β-OH elimination sequence. This reaction provides a new route to the synthesis of tetrasubstituted olefins.

Chiral aryl vicinal diols were obtained in high ee and yield by asymmetric dihydroxylation of aryl olefins with tandem biocatalysts: one contains an enantioselective styrene monooxygenase, and the other contains a regioselective epoxide hydrolase.

A catalytic system based on iron(II) triflate, quinaldic acid and an ionic liquid allows the aziridination of olefins with equimolar amounts of iminoiodinane providing products in good to moderate yields.