Chromium-Catalyzed Linear-Selective Alkylation of Aldehydes with Alkenes.

We developed a chromium-catalyzed, photochemical, and linear-selective alkylation of aldehydes with alkylzirconium species generated in situ from a wide range of alkenes and Schwartz's reagent. Photochemical homolysis of the C-Zr bond afforded alkyl radicals, which were then trapped by a chromium complex catalyst to generate the alkylchromium(III) species for polar addition to aldehydes. The reaction proceeded with high functional group tolerance at ambient temperature under visible-light irradiation.