The reductivecoupling of an aryl carbonyl group with an activated alkene to give the corresponding γ‐hydroxybutyric acid (GHBA) derivative was achieved in the presence of zinc and ammonia. A board scope of GHBA derivatives could be synthesized under ambient conditions by this method. A mechanism involving a Zn‐ketyl radical as the key intermediate is proposed.
photosensitizers (Ir-PSs) and triflated Hf12 clusters, Hf-Ir-OTf uses Lewis acidic Hf sites to bind and activate electron-deficientalkenes to accept ketyl radicals generated by adjacent Ir-PSs, thereby suppressing undesired dimerization and reduction of ketyl radicals to enhance the selectivity for the cross-coupling products. The MOL-catalyzed reductive coupling reaction accommodates a variety of olefinic substrates