This paper describes the activation of 2-cyclohexen-1-ol () and 2-cyclopenten-1-ol () through the use of aluminium-catalysed transfer hydrogenation. The electronically activated substrates are demonstrated to undergo facile conjugate addition and, when the alcohol functional group is subsequently restored in a one-pot procedure, this leads to an indirect addition of nucleophiles to allylic alcohols. This novel methodology has been termed ...