Recent Advances in the Chemistry of SmI2–H2O

Abstract

Recent work from our laboratories has shown SmI2–H2O to be a versatile, readily-accessible and non-toxic reductant that is more powerful than SmI2. This review describes the reduction of functional groups that were previously thought to lie beyond the reach of SmI2 and complexity-generating cyclisations and cyclisation cascades triggered by the reduction of the ester carbonyl group with SmI2–H2O.

Keywords

• Cyclisations
• Radicals
• Reductions
• Samarium
• Water