Application of Silicon-Initiated Water Splitting for the Reduction of Organic Substrates.

The use of water as a donor for hydrogen suitable for the reduction of several important classes of organic compounds is described. It is found that the reductive water splitting can be promoted by several metalloids among which silicon shows the best efficiency. The developed methodologies were applied for the reduction of nitro compounds, N-oxides, sulfoxides, alkenes, alkynes, hydrodehalogenation as well as for the gram-scale synthesis of several substrates of industrial importance.