Facile Protocol for Catalytic Frustrated Lewis Pair Hydrogenation and Reductive Deoxygenation of Ketones and Aldehydes

A series of ketones and aldehydes are reduced in toluene under H-2 in the presence of 5 mol% B(C6F5)(3) and either cyclodextrin or molecular sieves affording a facile metal-free protocol for reduction to alcohols. Similar treatment of aryl ketones resulted in metal-free deoxygenation yielding aromatic hydrocarbons.