Osmium-catalyzed reductive processes

Reductive catalytic reactions play an important role in organic chemistry. Nowadays, a large number of reactions catalyzed by palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and platinum complexes have been developed. However, osmium compounds receive undeservedly little attention as reduction catalysts, although they can efficiently increase the rates of some reactions. In some cases, osmium catalysts outperform ruthenium analogues in both the reaction rate and catalyst stability. This review systematizes the reductive reactions catalyzed by organometallic complexes of osmium, describes the general patterns that can be followed in relevant literature and presents some promising trends of this field of chemistry. The considered reactions include hydrogen transfer, hydrogen borrowing, hydroformylation, reductive amination and water gas shift reaction.
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