This Report highlights advances in some of the most commonly used oxidation and reduction reactions, focusing on the literature from 2007. Significant advances in oxidation chemistry include enantioselective Ti-catalysed epoxidation of unactivated alkenes (Scheme 1),Fe-catalysed epoxidation of alkenes that uses H2O2 as terminal oxidant (Scheme 2), the first effective and catalytic chiral peracid epoxidation reaction (Scheme 3), and organocatalytic aziridinations (Scheme 4). Significant advances in reduction chemistry include enantioselective hydrogenation of unactivated tetrasubstituted alkenes (Scheme 7), a new practical chiral borohydride reagent (Scheme 8), and conjugate reductions of nitro olefins and vinyl sulfones (Scheme 12).
