[IrCl (cod)] 2 and [Cp* IrCl2] 2 complexes catalyzed efficiently the Guerbet reaction of primary alcohols to β-alkylated dimer alcohols in good yields. For instance, the reaction of 1- butanol in the presence of [Cp* IrCl2] 2 (1 mol%), t-BuOK (40 mol%), and 1, 7-octadiene (10 mol%) produced 2-ethyl-1-hexanol in 93% yield. Various primary alcohols undergo the Guerbet reaction under the influence of Ir complexes to give the corresponding dimer ...
